Spanish oyster thistle
Spiny yellow-flowered plant of field edges blooming in the summer drought; provides nectar and pollen when little else is available.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0,2-0,8 m
- Life cycle
- Biennial
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Spanish oyster thistle is a spiny-leaved biennial or perennial that grows on fallow fields, roadsides and degraded pastures in Mediterranean climates. In Turkey it is common in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara regions; its young roots and leaf midribs are gathered as a vegetable. Flowering in June-August, after the spring plants have dried up, makes it valuable during the summer dearth. Bees collect nectar and pollen from the heads, which are open in the morning.
Flowering
It lasts from June to the end of August; the flower heads tend to open in the morning and close in the afternoon.
Honey and pollen
There is no monofloral honey; it is a component of late-summer mixed honeys.
Note for the beekeeper
In dry summers it becomes a maintenance source for colonies in coastal and lowland apiaries; a large nectar flow should not be expected. Postponing roadside mowing around the hives until after July protects this source.