Honey plants and pollen carriers of the deserts, semi-deserts, and steppes of Kyrgyzstan

Honey Plants and Pollen Sources of Deserts, Semi-Deserts, and Steppes

In the zone of deserts, semi-deserts, and steppes, there are also many honey and pollen plants. However, the main ones are: psoralea, camel thorn, eremurus, Dzhungarian clematis, ziziphora, peacock poppy, silver chingil, Alatau saffron, Kolpakovsky iris, and sickle-leaved alfalfa, St. John's wort.

Psoralea, known in Kyrgyz as akkurai, from the Legume family. It is often found in deserts, semi-deserts, and dry steppes, especially in the western part of the Chui Valley, in Talas, Chatkal, and Fergana. The stems reach 1 m in height and are covered with rounded, coarsely serrated leaves. Small whitish-lilac flowers are gathered in racemes.

The plant is covered with hairs and glands. It blooms from the second half of May to June. It produces a lot of nectar. In favorable years, when spring is rainy, psoralea bushes can reach human height: at this time, up to 150 kg of honey can be harvested per bee colony.

The honey is transparent, crystallizes quickly, and has no aroma.

Beekeepers rarely use psoralea even in favorable years when it produces a lot of nectar. This good honey plant should be used more widely.

Camel thorn, from the Legume family. It is widely distributed in the deserts and semi-deserts of Kyrgyzstan, especially in the Chui, Talas, and Fergana valleys on clayey hills and foothills.

This perennial plant has branched, spiny stems. The flowers are pink, butterfly-shaped, and contain a lot of nectar. It blooms from May to the end of June. The nectar is highly sugary.

The honey is dirty white, very aromatic, and tender in taste. During the flowering period, each hive can collect up to 30 kg of honey from camel thorn.

Eremurus, also known as shiryash or kulunchak, from the Onion family. It grows in semi-deserts and steppes of Kyrgyzstan, as well as on rocky and gravelly slopes in the low and mid-mountains. The species of eremurus vary. In some places, especially along the terraces of the Chatkal Ridge, particularly the river Khoji-Ata, as well as in Susamyr, Talas, the Kyrgyz Ridge, they form unique original steppes, occupying vast areas.

During the flowering of eremurus (from May to August), these steppes are filled not only with the scent of honey but also with the "music of bees," which eagerly visit the nectar-rich flowers of eremurus. From one hectare of eremurus thickets, bees can collect up to 180 kg of nectar.

All species of eremurus are perennial plants with a rosette of linear leaves at the base and large clusters of pinkish-white flowers, and some species have yellowish flowers that bloom from the bottom up. The flowers have 6 tepals, 6 stamens, one pistil, and the fruit is a capsule. The flower stalks reach 1-2 m in height. In folk terminology, the clusters of eremurus are called "fox tails." They are extraordinarily decorative.

Eremurus tian-shanensis, comb-like, sunburnt, and robust are especially widespread. These species grow in the foothills and mid-mountain regions of Alai, Chatkal, Fergana, Talas, the Kyrgyz Ridge, and Central Tien Shan.

The nectar productivity of sunburnt eremurus is very high — 12-15 mg per flower, and the sugar content in the nectar ranges from 17 to 60%. Bees eagerly visit eremurus, especially at the beginning of flowering.

Dzhungarian clematis, from the Buttercup family. It grows everywhere in Kyrgyzstan — on rocky mountain slopes, gravel riverbeds, and scree. A densely branched shrub up to 90 cm high with bluish-green lanceolate leaves and fragrant whitish flowers. It is especially characteristic of the western part of the Issyk-Kul basin, the Kochkor and Jumgal valleys.

It blooms from July to the end of August. It produces a lot of nectar and pollen. It is eagerly visited by bees. It is an excellent honey plant of the desert-steppe region.

Ziziphora, from the Mint family. A semi-shrub up to 40 cm high with elongated-oval leaves. The flowers are light lilac, gathered in dense globular or spherical inflorescences. It blooms in June, July, and until August.

It is widely distributed on rocky mountain slopes in the forest-meadow zone of Central Tien Shan, the Issyk-Kul basin, the Kyrgyz Ridge, and the Small and Large Kemin.

M. M. Glukhov considers ziziphora a primary honey plant. Honey productivity is over 40 kg per hectare.

Peacock poppy, from the Poppy family. An annual plant 20-70 cm high with large bright red flowers.

It produces a lot of pollen. It blooms in April and May. It grows in the valleys and foothills of northern and southern Kyrgyzstan among wormwood and wormwood-ephemeral deserts. In the Chui, Talas, and Fergana valleys, it forms red "carpets."

An excellent pollen source.

Alatau saffron, from the Iris family. A perennial plant with a bulbous root. The flowers are whitish-purple. It blooms in February, March, and April. It produces pollen. It grows in valleys and foothills on clayey sites — everywhere except high mountains. An early spring pollen source.

Kolpakovsky iris. A perennial plant with a bulb and light purple flowers. It blooms in March and April.

It produces pollen. It grows in the foothills and slopes of the Kyrgyz Ridge.

An early spring pollen source.

In concluding the description of honey and pollen plants, it should be noted that this is just a small characterization of a few species out of the 408 found in Kyrgyzstan. However, these species are the most valuable and productive.

To improve the forage base for beekeeping, a number of measures need to be taken, primarily to protect honey plants, combat various — especially harmful — insects that consume nectar and pollen from honey and pollen plants; and to enrich the local flora with new, more nectar-productive plants.

It is well known that phosphorus and potassium with phosphorus increase the nectar productivity of plants. Perhaps, therefore, it makes sense to apply superphosphate to the soil where honey plants grow, especially before flowering, thus increasing their nectar productivity.

Honey plants should be more widely used for greening cities and settlements — especially such as linden, gleditsia, mulberry, and others.

In Kyrgyzstan, over 8 million hectares are occupied by unproductive lands that are still underutilized by the local economy. Some of these lands can be used for planting such excellent honey plants as sedum; it germinates well in rocky and gravelly soil and has high honey productivity.

In addition, it is necessary to practice more widely the sowing of phacelia, annual melilotus, and other valuable honey plants; and these sowings should be done at different times and in such a way as to create a flowering conveyor. The organization of livestock grazing and haymaking should be improved to preserve honey plants.

When treating pastures and hayfields with pesticides, care must be taken to protect honey plants.

In recent years, nectar-feed mixtures have been practiced in Ukraine and other regions: phacelia — lupin, phacelia — vetch, phacelia — peas, and others.

Triple mixtures are also made, for example, corn — peas — phacelia. The main component is sown at full rate, while the honey plant is sown as an undercrop. This increases the yield of the main component by 10-15%, suppresses the development of weeds, and as a result, the sowings are less affected by harmful insects. Why shouldn't specialists in Kyrgyzstan adopt this useful experience?

Only comprehensive care for honey plants and their rational use can make beekeeping a highly profitable sector of agriculture, truly contributing to the successful implementation of the Food Program.