Pollen Grains & Honeydew

Book excerpt: This book describes, in detail, a simple approach for beekeepers, to identify the plant sources of their own honey. They will occasionally find they have a special honey, and then the jars can be labelled accordingly. From 2019 to 2021, beekeepers from The UK and Continental Europe sent me samples of their honey, and the collection of digital photos from my own pollen slides, helped me to identify most of the pollens in their honey. These pollens and the honeydews found in most summer honey, feature in this book. Christine Coulsting has contributed a section, describing how she deals with identifying pollens, found in her honey, but not in her pollen slide collection. Alan Riach's section details the calculations needed to proportion the pollens found in a sample of honey, to the flowers' nectar contributions.