# Forage observations



## Jim Brewster (Dec 17, 2014)

Two unrelated observations:

1. I had read (maybe here) that bees are uninterested in fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus). However, and this may be just coincidence, this is my first beekeeping year and the first year our fringe tree has set more than one or two fruits.

2. I identified the fall-flowering shrub I see along our roadways as groundsel tree (Baccharis halimifolia). Anyone have any info on its potential as a nectar plant? They are common in the brackish wetlands around here, just out of range of my home apiary, but when I'm looking at out yards...


----------



## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Just because a plant sets fruit doesn't mean that only honeybees could have pollinated it. Many plants are self fertile, some are pollinated by wind, and many, many more are pollinated by other creatures. 

Honeybees are the most critical pollinators mostly for human food crop plants, not for natives like Chionanthes virginicus, which after all is a native plant in the eastern US and evolved here in the New World eons before honeybees arrived. Honeybees were first brought here by European settlers, only a few hundred years ago.

That said, isn't Chionanthes V. a spectacular plant? I bought two up here from my late Mother's farm in northern Virginia and I treasure them. The rare years when they bloom well are really memorable. Last winter killed them to the ground, but they re-sprouted this summer growing shoots six feet tall. 

Enj.


----------



## Jim Brewster (Dec 17, 2014)

enjambres said:


> Just because a plant sets fruit doesn't mean that only honeybees could have pollinated it. Many plants are self fertile, some are pollinated by wind, and many, many more are pollinated by other creatures.
> 
> Honeybees are the most critical pollinators mostly for human food crop plants, not for natives like Chionanthes virginicus, which after all is a native plant in the eastern US and evolved here in the New World eons before honeybees arrived. Honeybees were first brought here by European settlers, only a few hundred years ago.
> 
> ...


Good points. I know fringe tree is dioecious, and our's is female, and there are a few others within a quarter mile or so. We've been here 10 years, and our yard has always been better than average for native pollinators (no pesticides, lots of herbs and wildflowers, etc.). The male trees just may be further than the native pollinators can easily travel in this suburban landscape. Anyway, for whatever reason it never set much fruit until this year. As I said, it may just be coincidence.

It's interesting to contemplate that the plants that are the biggest nectar sources (i.e. tulip poplar and black locust, both American natives), do not particularly rely on the honey bees, while the plants that do rely on them might not give us much honey.

Yes, I agree fringe tree is a spectacular plant, and their fragrance can be quite powerful!


----------



## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

Jim Brewster said:


> 2. I identified the fall-flowering shrub I see along our roadways as groundsel tree (Baccharis halimifolia). Anyone have any info on its potential as a nectar plant? They are common in the brackish wetlands around here, just out of range of my home apiary, but when I'm looking at out yards...


I have not honeybees active on it, but being a member of the Aster family of plants, it's possible. Baccharis flowers in late Sept/ early October in North Carolina, and a week or two later in Maryland. This timing overlaps with goldenrod which would be a preferred nectar source. The plant is showier well after it flowers as the seed are attached to white cotton like pappus. Some years the plants are quite showy well into the Winter.


----------

