Bee tree

NECTAR PRODUCTION:
No data

SOURCE FOR HONEY BEES:
Major in some areas

General distribution:

This plant is native to Tibet and Yunnan Province, China through much of temperate China to Korea. It is cultivated, and valued by both gardeners and beekeepers, in England, Ireland, Slovenia, and the United States. It is not widely reported as escaped from cultivation outside China, except in the United States.

Botanical description:

Tetradium is a deciduous tree or shrub growing to 50 feet, with a broad, spreading, domed crown. The leaves are opposite to subopposite, odd pinnately compound, with 5-11 pointed ovate leaflets, glabrous on the upper surface and pubescent on the lower. The white 5-part flowers appear in late summer, in broad terminal corymbs about 6 in. wide. They are unisexual, and trees are either male or monoecious with male and female bloom periods separated in time. The flowers are attractive to bees, and trees can be located by the buzzing of visiting insects. Fruits are reddish-pink follicles containing two shiny black seeds.

Seasonal development:

The tree is covered in late July and August with masses of large flat white to gray cluster of small white flowers, particularly valued when few other tree-sized plants are flowering. It attracts large numbers of bees and is sought after by beekeepers as a source of late summer honey. The flowers produce clusters of seeds that are present from late August through November. The seeds start as bright red capsules that when fully ripe open to expose shiny black buckshot seed as Autumn progresses. The small, red-to-black berries are popular with many birds.