Honey flax provides only supporting bribes for bee colonies. This culture belongs to the flax family, and has more than a hundred species. It can be either an annual or a perennial herb, depending on the variety.
The content of the article
- 1 Significance for agriculture
- 2 Appearance
- 2.1 Common (fiber)
- 3 Honey productivity
- 4 Useful Properties
Significance for agriculture
Flax has been cultivated by man since time immemorial. Its annual varieties are native to Transcaucasia and Western Persia. In the wild, they are found in the south of Russia.
Cultural varieties are used for the production of high-quality natural yarn, linen, oil, which is used in cooking, dietetics, medicine, and industry.
The most important crop for agriculture is common (spinning) flax. Its two varieties are grown:
- fiber going to the production of yarn;
- and curl, cultivated to obtain valuable seeds.
Appearance
The flax we meet is an annual herb with a bare stem covered with a waxy bloom, with a height of 0,3 to 0,6 meters. Branching is observed only in the upper part of the stems – narrow-lanceolate leaves grow here, having the next arrangement.
The top is crowned with an umbrella of blue with a grayish tint 5-petal flowers. The anthers are blue. The fruit is a spherical flax head, containing 10 dark brown, small seeds with a glossy surface.
Common (fiber)
This variety is grown in Russia, Kazakhstan on an industrial scale. The plant has a very high stem, up to 1,2-1,5 meters, dotted with small, sparsely arranged leaves.
The inflorescences look like a loose gyrus, collected from small flowers with long legs. Anthers are elongated, blue or yellow-orange in color.
Ordinary flax is used for the production of flour, oil, cosmetics, fiber, building insulation, tow.
Honey productivity
Flax blooms from June to July and blooms for 10-15 days. The inflorescences open at dawn. By noon, the petals close or the outdated color crumbles to the ground.
Density of flowering directly depends on the density of crops and air humidity. There are a lot of inflorescences on plants – there are up to 6 flowers per square meter.
As beekeeping practice shows, flax as a honey plant is almost not interesting to bees. However, apiaries are involved in increasing the productivity of flax fields – the plants are only adapted to cross-pollination. The work of bees in the field increases the yield by 40-50%. Insects smell inflorescences from 7 am to noon.
Is flax a honey plant? Of course, but bribes from him are supportive. This is about 10-15 kilograms of honey from one hectare of fields. According to other sources – up to 30 kg. Bees practically do not collect pollen.
Useful Properties
It is not possible to judge the quality of honey – the low honey productivity of the plant does not allow pumping out this variety of bee products in marketable volumes.
It makes no sense to roam as an apiary to this culture specifically for the sake of collecting nectar and pollen. And getting a monofloral variety in summer is an unrealistic task.
Flax nectar can be present in later varieties of bee products, for example, in sunflower honey. It is a product with good nutritional and medicinal (bactericidal) properties.
It can be used to strengthen the immune system, fight colds, spring vitamin deficiencies. Use for various cosmetic procedures, treatment of abscesses and wounds on the skin.
When entering into the diet, care is taken, as with any other bee product. The first dose for an adult is a teaspoon, and for a child – at the tip of the spoon. In case of individual intolerance (allergy, diabetes mellitus), it is not eaten!
