North Queensland Flowering Calendars

December

Flowering Calendar – December

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
River mangrove	Aegiceras corniculatum	light amber	minor	minor	strong	light	Useful supporting species.	Useful support species, but good yields have not been reported.
White mahogany (white stringybark)	Eucalyptus acmenoides	medium amber	minor	major	strong	light	A supporting species on the Atherton Tableland.
Pink bloodwood	Corymbiaintermedia	medium amber	minor	minor	strong	light	Flowering affected adversely by wet season. Restricted value.	Bees build well and will store honey after storms in November. Flowering affected by wet season.
Mountain coolibah	Eucalyptus orgadophila	extra light amber	major	medium	good	moderate	Produces heavily about one year in four in the drier basaltic areas of the Cairns hinterland
Rusty jacket	Corymbiapeltata		minor				Found scattered in the Herbert-Irvinebank area. The bee forage value of this tree is not well known.	Flower cups show plenty of nectar.
Red stringybark	Eucalyptus resinifera	medium amber	minor	major	strong	light	On Atherton Tableland in major flowering year a good support species.
Morton Bay ash (Carben, Stocking gum)	Corymbia tessellaris		minor	major			In Townsville district during the dry period this pollen tree is valuable.	Honey is the most stringy of northern types.
Northern swamp box	Lophostemon grandiflorus	white	minor	minor	good	moderate	Produces heavily about one in ten years, particularly in a dry summer on the Atherton Tableland. Important in coastal districts and on the Atherton Tableland.	Produces heavily about one year in ten, particularly during dry summer. Needs creek to run before it quickly buds and flowers.
Maize (corn)	Zea mays			major			Excellent source of pollen.	Excellent source of pollen which beekeepers are making better use of.
Chinee apple	Ziziphus mauritiana	extra white	minor	minor	fair	light	Flowers annually and lightly stimulates colonies during dry period in Townsville district.	Flavour unpleasant. Nil value for pollen. Flowers annually and can lightly stimulate bees during dry summers in the Townsville district. Honey can froth.

Additional Species of Note

By Mike James

Common name	Scientific name	Colour of honey	Importance as honey source	Importance as pollen source	Honey flavour	Honey density	Members comments
Wattles	Acacia sp.		nil	minor			Bees can collect pollen, but it is considered to have poor protein content.
Casuarinas	Casuarina sp.; Allocasuarina sp.		minor	minor			Bees collect copious quantities of pollen in some seasons. Pollen is cream coloured and the rust like material at the hive entrances are husks which are discarded.
Coconut palm	Cocos nucifera
Pumpkins	Cucurbita maxima	medium amber	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.
White stringybark	Eucalyptus acmenoides	medium amber	minor	major	strong	light	A strong support species north of Hervey's Range.
River red gum (River gum)	Eucalyptus camaldulensis	White to light amber	major	major	mild	dense	Most widely distributed tree in inland Australia. Honey candies readily, and needs to be carefully heated to render it.
Lemon-scented gum	Lophostemon citriodora		minor	medium			Close cousin to southern Spotted gum. It has a long bud growing period and can flower any month of the year.
Silver-leaf (broad-leaf) ironbark	Eucalyptus melanophloia	white to light amber	major	minor	good	heavy
Normanton box	Eucalyptus normantonensis	Light amber	medium	minor			Most responsive to ground moisture. Bees can build to swarming strength when pollen is collected from another source.
Ghost gum	Eucalyptus platyphylla	dark amber	minor	major	pleasant	moderate	In a good flowering year it is a good support species. It will not bud with insufficient ground moisture.
Hairy bloodwood	Eucalyptus setosa	dark to black					Common west of Charters Towers (occurs with E. papuana). Value to bees unknown.
Silver-leaf ironbark	Eucalyptus shirleyi	extra light amber	medium	minor	good	heavy	In major flowering year this is a good support species.
Grevillea	Grevillea sp.; hybrids esp. \'93Robyn Gordon\'94	amber	minor	nil			Grevilleas are often planted to attract nectar eating birds but of no major benefit to bees.
Brush box	Lophostemon confertus	extra white to light amber	minor	minor	choice	moderate	Other scrub trees flower at the same time, often spoiling this choice honey.
Swamp mahogany	Lophostemon suaveolens	extra white	medium	nil to minor	good	moderate	Produces heavily about one year in five, particularly in dry summer. Thin nectar is washed out by rain.
Soapy tea-tree	Melaleuca dealbata	medium amber	minor	minor	poor	light	Support species only.
Red bottle brush	Melaleuca viminglis	medium amber	minor to major in town	medium to major	fair	light	Small stands along most creeks, but street planting is a help.
Peltophorum	Peltophorum pterocarpum	amber to yellow	medium	major	fair	light	Useful source of pollen in town, bees build strongly and wax produced is orange.
Cockie apple	Planchonia careya	amber	minor	nil	very unpleasant	light	Honey is of strong and unpleasant character downgrading the flavour of any honey blended with it.
Pigweed	Portulaca bicolor		major				Occurs mainly in headland areas cultivated for irrigated crops.
Pigweed	Portulaca oleracea; P. pilosa		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.
Rain tree	Samanea saman	light amber	medium	major	fair	light	Regular honey producer in town.
Umbrella tree	Schefflera (ex Brassaia) actinophylla	dark amber	minor	nil	fair	light	Bees can collect small quantities of this nectar which is nearly black. Bees work these flowers during rain.
African tulip	Spathodea campanulata		minor				Bees collect and are stimulated by the red stringy pollen.
Yellow bells	Tecoma stans	amber to yellow	minor	minor to medium			Bees are attracted to nectar of this support species.
Caltrop	Tribulus terrestris		minor	medium			Bees are often seen beside roads collecting lemon yellow pollen. The pollen is of high quality and accelerates brood rearing, soon after drought breaking rains.
Grasstree	Xanthorrhoea sp.		minor	minor
Yellow penda	Xanthostemon chrysanthus	extra light amber	major	medium	good	light	Flowers regularly around Cardwell.Major flowering in Townsville suburbs after big rain.

North Queensland Flowering Calendars

Flowering Calendar – December

Additional Species of Note

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