North Queensland Flowering Calendars

March

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Flowering Calendar – March

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.
Streaked rattlepod	Crotalaria sp.		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.
Pink bloodwood	Corymbia intermedia	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.
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.
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
Red stringybark	Eucalyptus pellita	medium amber	minor	major	strong	light	On lower coastal slopes a good support species
Rusty jacket	Corymbia peltata		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.
Phasey bean	Macroptilium lathyroides		minor	major			Bees build to swarming strength.
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	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.
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.
Lemon-scented gum	Corymbia citriodora		minor	medium			Close cousin to southern Spotted gum. It has a long bud growing period and can flower any month of the year.
Gum-topped bloodwood	Corymbia dichromophloia		minor to medium	major
Narrow-leaf (grey) ironbark	Eucalyptuscrebra	extra light amber	medium	medium	good	moderate	Erratic producer in the Townsville district.
Coolibah	Eucalyptus microtheca	white to light amber	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	white to medium amber	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	amber	minor	nil			Grevilleas are often planted to attract nectar eating birds but of no major benefit to bees.
Paper-bark tea-tree	Melaleuca quinquenervia	extra light amber to dark amber	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.
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.
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.
Yellowpenda	Xanthostemon chrysanthus\	extra light amber	major	medium	good	light	Flowers regularly around Cardwell.Major flowering in Townsville suburbs after big rain.