North Queensland Flowering Calendars

April

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Flowering Calendar – April

Reproduced from Blake ST and Roff C. 1987. Honey Flora of Queensland 3rd Edition, Department of Primary Industries Queensland, Brisbane. See also additional species of interest below. Additional information provided by Mike James.

Common name	Scientific name	Colour of honey	Importance as honey source	Importance as pollen source	Honey flavour	Honey density	Blake & Roff comments	Members comments
Joyweed	Alternanthera sp.		minor	major			Bees build to swarming strength. This plant together with other weeds flower profusely after the wet season.	Honey has strong unpleasant flavour. In irrigated areas it flowers over a longer period.
Rose sheoak	Allocasuarina torulosa			medium			As for black sheoak.
Streaked rattlepod	Crotalaria mucronata		minor	major			Bees build to swarming strength.
Cullen's ironbark	Eucalyptus cullenii	extra light amber	major	medium	choice	heavy	This ironbark is not well known by beekeepers but is reported to have the same value as the narrow-leafed ironbark. Further investigation is required.
Molloy red box	Eucalyptus leptophleba		minor	minor	good		Honey is reported to have reddish tint. Requires investigation and is probably more important than at present estimated. Plentiful Mount Garnet district.
Red stringybark	Eucalyptus pellita	medium amber	minor	major	strong	light	On lower coastal slopes a good support species
Phasey bean	Macroptilium lathyroides	medium amber	moderate		strong	moderate	Honey froths when heated. Due to insufficient pollen, colonies sometimes dwindle alarmingly.
Long-fruited bloodwood	Corymbia polycarpa	medium amber	minor	minor	strong	light		Bees build well and will store honey after storms in November. Flowering affected by wet season.
Phasey bean	Macroptilium lathyroides		minor	major			Bees build to swarming strength.
Weeping tea tree	Melaleuca leucadendra	light amber	medium	medium	strong	light	Flowers regularly.
Broad-leafed tea tree	Melaleuca viridiflora	light amber	medium	major	poor	light	A good source of pollen.	Honey flavour is choice. A good pollen source but needs water to pond over roots on summer days to yield nectar.

Additional Species of Note

By Mike James

Common name	Scientific name	Importance as honey source	Importance as pollen source	Honey flavour	Honey density	Members comments
Lemon-scented gum	Corymbia citriodora	nil	minor			Bees can collect pollen, but it is considered to have poor protein content.
Coconut palm	Cocos nucifera
Pumpkins	Cucurbita maxima	nil to minor	major		light	Bees obtain good supplies of pollen (highest protein levels available to bees) from most pumpkins.
Other cucurbits	Cucurbita sp.					With the exception of pumpkins, cucurbits seem of little benefit to bees, but cucumbers can be useful.
Narrow-leaf ironbark	Eucalyptus crebra	minor to major	Medium to major	choice	heavy	Heavy but erratic producer, about one year in five.
Gum-topped bloodwood	Corymbia dichromophloia	minor to medium	major
Narrow-leaf (grey) ironbark	Eucalyptus drepanophylla (crebra)	medium	medium	good	moderate	Erratic producer in the Townsville district.
Coolibah	Eucalyptus microtheca	major	medium	good	Very heavy	Regular producer around waterways away from the coast, but a poor producer in coastal areas.
Gum-topped box	Eucalyptus moluccana	major	medium	pleasant, unusual flavour	moderate	Honey ferments and froths unless well ripened. Candies rapidly. Produces heavily about one in three years.
Grevillea	Grevillea sp.; hybrids esp. \'93Robyn Gordon\'94	minor	nil			Grevilleas are often planted to attract nectar eating birds but of no major benefit to bees.
Soapy tea-tree	Melaleuca dealbata	minor	minor	poor	light	Support species only.
Paper-bark tea-tree	Melaleuca quinquenervia	major	major	poor	light	High yielding tree in southern Queensland but production is unreliable north of Rockhampton. Candies readily.
Pigweed	Portulaca bicolor	major				Occurs mainly in headland areas cultivated for irrigated crops.
Mintweed	Salvia reflexa					Mintweed grows quickly after early rainfall and produces sufficient pollen and nectar for building bees.
Yellow penda	Xanthostemon chrysanthus	major	medium	good	light	Flowers regularly around Cardwell.Major flowering in Townsville suburbs after big rain.