Terms of flowering honey plants in the USA and Canada

According to observations of naturalists and beekeepers.

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Scientific name:

Prunus cerasus

Life form:

Tree.

Flowering time:

6 days.

Flowering period

in Washington for this plant is: AprilMay.

NECTAR PRODUCTION:
30 kilograms per ha

SOURCE FOR HONEY BEES:
Minor


General distribution:

Prunus cerasus (sour cherry, tart cherry, or dwarf cherry) is a species of Prunus in the subgenus Cerasus (cherries), native to much of Europe and southwest Asia. It is closely related to the sweet cherry (Prunus avium) but has a fruit that is more acidic.

Cultivated sour cherries were selected from wild specimens of Prunus cerasus and the doubtfully distinct P. acida from around the Caspian and Black Seas, and were known to the Greeks in 300 BC. They were also extremely popular with Persians and the Romans who introduced them to Britain long before the 1st century AD. The fruit remains popular in modern-day Iran.

In England, their cultivation was popularised in the 16th century in the time of Henry VIII. They became a popular crop amongst Kentish growers, and by 1640 over two dozen named cultivars were recorded. In the Americas, Massachusetts colonists planted the first sour cherry, 'Kentish Red', when they arrived.

Map of distribution and habitat in USA

This plant is present in at least 36 states/provinces in this country.

See The Map

Botanical description:

The tree of sour cherry is smaller than the sweet cherry. Its height is 4-10 m. A small tree, usually round-topped or spreading, bearing root suckers; leaves are ovate, hard, stiff and rather abruptly pointed, minutely toothed; flowers white, in cluster of 2-5 on slender pedicles, 2-4 cm long, appearing with the leaves; fruits globose, 0.6-1.25 cm in diameter, light red to nearly black, acid or sweet. The bark is bitter, astringe. The fruit is sour and sweetish.

Seasonal development:

Blooms late, with white flowers clustered on 2–4" long pedicels. Flowers appear on 1-year-old wood along with spurs. Ripens in late June, just 2 months after the spring bloom.


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List of honey plants that may be blooming now in Washington
See the entire list

Acer saccharinum (aka: Silver maple, Soft maple)

Pyrus communis (aka: European pear, Common pear)

Celtis laevigata (aka: Hackberry, Sugarberry, Lowland hackberry, Sugar hackberry, Arizona sugarberry, Netleaf hackberry, Small's hackberry, Southern hackberry, Texas sugarberry)

Acer negundo (aka: Boxelder, Western boxelder, Arizona boxelder, California boxelder, Texas boxelder, Interior boxelder, Violet boxelder)

Rubus spectabilis (aka: Salmonberry)

Acer glabrum (aka: Rocky Mountain maple, Douglas maple, Greene's maple, New Mexico maple, Torrey maple)

Salix lucida (aka: Shining willow, Greenleaf willow, Tail-leaf willow, Whiplash willow, Pacific willow, Lance-leaf willow, Longleaf willow, Red willow, Western shining willow)

Salix exigua (aka: Narrowleaf willow, Coyote willow)

Prunus americana (aka: American plum, Goose plum, River plum, Wild plum)

Acer grandidentatum (aka: Bigtooth maple, Canyon maple, Western sugar maple)

Prunus cerasus (aka: Sour cherry, Tart cherry, Dwarf cherry, Montmorency cherry)

Crataegus douglasii (aka: Black hawthorn, Douglas hawthorn, River hawthorn, Western thornapple)

Populus tremuloides (aka: Quaking aspen, Trembling aspen, Aspen, American aspen, Mountain aspen, Golden aspen, Trembling poplar, White poplar, Popple, Alamo Blanco)

Salix scouleriana (aka: Scouler's willow, Upland willow)

Acer circinatum (aka: Vine maple)

Prunus emarginata (aka: Bitter cherry)

Malus fusca (aka: Oregon crab, Oregon crab apple, Pacific crab apple, Western crab apple)

Salix bebbiana (aka: Bebb willow, Beak willow, Beaked willow, Long-beaked willow, Diamond willow, Chaton, Petit Minou, Smooth Bebb willow)

Acer macrophyllum (aka: Bigleaf maple, Big-leaf maple, Oregon maple)

Malus domestica (aka: Pyrus pumila, Malus pumila, Apple)

Acer platanoides (aka: Norway maple)

Rubus ursinus (aka: California blackberry, California dewberry, California grapeleaf dewberry, Douglasberry, Pacific blackberry)