Mentha honey plant useful for bees
The honey plant Field mint and Peppermint are widespread in the expanses of Eurasia, despite the fact that they both belong to the same family, their origin is radically different, which does not prevent bee Mentha from producing nectar. Mentha honey plant has many useful properties that need to be considered in more detail. Consider Mentha as a honey plant in more detail in this article, lemon balm is considered separately. Read to the end - it will be interesting.
Content
- What is the difference between Peppermint and Field mint honey plants
- Description of the honey plant Field mint
- Description of the honey plant Peppermint
- Mentha as a honey plant
- What else is useful Mentha honey plant for bees?
- Mentha in folk medicine
What is the difference between Peppermint and field honey plants
The melliferous plant Field mintLatin name Field mint L. as well as the melliferous plant Peppermint Latin name Mentha piperita are plants from the same genus, but their origin is different. Field mint, also known as meadow Mentha, is widely distributed in Eurasia in the wild and is considered a weed. Peppermint is a hybrid that was bred by breeders and which was widely distributed in culture, where it was cultivated in the fields as an essential oil and medicinal plant. On the territory of Russia, it is practically not grown anymore and it runs wild where it was once grown in the fields. Nevertheless, Peppermint is found in almost any summer cottage, where housewives grow it to make herbal tea.
Description of the honey plant Field mint
Mentha honey plant is a perennial herbaceous plant from the Lamiaseae family, Mentha honey plant is a low plant, it reaches a height of 15 to 50 cm.
The rhizome of Mentha is creeping, gives many underground shoots.
Mentha stems are simple or branched, tetrahedral.
Mentha leaves are opposite, ovate-lanceolate, sharp, serrate-toothed, often pubescent.
Mentha flowers are small, pinkish-lilac, collected in dense spherical whorls in the axils of the upper leaves.
The calyx of the Mentha flower is bell-shaped, with five teeth. Corolla with five lobes, one of which is notched. Stamens four, pistil with four-parted upper ovary. The fruits consist of four rounded nuts enclosed in a cup.
Mentha is distributed as a honey plant throughout the Non-Chernozem region. Mentha grows as a honey plant along the damp banks of rivers and lakes, along overgrown ditches, Mentha is often found as a weed in fields and gardens.
Description of the honey plant Peppermint
Peppermint honey plant is a perennial herb.
Peppermint rhizome is horizontally branched with thin, fibrous roots.
Peppermint stem is upright, 30-100 cm high, the stem is tetrahedral and hollow, straight, branched, leafy, glabrous or with sparse short adpressed hairs.
Peppermint leaves are crosswise opposite, oblong-ovate, short-petiolate, pointed, with a heart-shaped base and a sharply serrate edge.
Peppermint flowers are small, bisexual or pistillate, light purple in color, collected on the tops of the shoots in semi-whorls, forming spike-shaped inflorescences (thyrsus). The corolla is five-membered, slightly irregular, pinkish or pale purple.
Peppermint blooms from late June to September.
Peppermint fruits are rare.
Mentha as a honey plant
Often the question arises Mentha honey plant or not? The correct answer is yes Mentha honey plant. Honey plants are both wild types of Mentha and good quality Peppermint honey plant. It is interesting to note that during the flowering period of Mentha, bees actively visit its bushes, and this is not surprising, because Mentha honey plant flowers allow bees to easily reach the nectar.
When does Mentha honey plant bloom? Mentha as a honey plant is considered a minor honey plant that blooms in the second half of summer. Mentha as a honey plant blooms from July to September. Gives a small but long honey flow.
What is the honey productivity of Mentha? There are no reliable data, but in the literature there is evidence that the honey productivity of Mentha reaches 150 - 200 kg per 1 hectare of crops.
The question may arise why Mentha as a honey plant is considered a weak plant if it has a high honey productivity? The answer is pretty simple. Long gone are the days when entire fields were sown with Peppermint honey plant as an essential oil crop and bloomed for a long time, because the raw materials for industry were leaves during the full flowering period, so bees could work on Peppermint honey plant flowers for a long time. Currently, Mentha is practically not cultivated. The absence of large areas of Mentha as a honey plant determined its status.
What honey from Mentha? If Mentha is a honey plant that bees willingly visit, then how does honey look from Mentha. Mentha honey has an amber color.
What else is useful Mentha honey plant for bees?
What else is useful Mentha for bees, except as a honey plant? It should be noted that Mentha for bees can be useful in solving several practical problems in beekeeping.
Mentha can fight against moth when storing sushi. To do this, use wild Mentha, which is cut during the early flowering period, when its supply is the strongest and dried. When placing the frames for storage, several sprigs of Mentha are placed in the cases, this scares away the stranded and preserves dryness.
Some beekeepers rub their hands with Mentha before inspecting the bees. The smell of Mentha soothes the bees and they do not sting the beekeeper. Of course, this does not cancel the culture of beekeeping and inspections of bees must be carried out correctly.
Some beekeepers use Mentha drops when bringing families together to give them a common smell.
Long-leaved bees collect dark yellow pollen from Mentha.
Thus, each beekeeper can plant several Mentha bushes near the apiary. As a honey plant, Mentha will have a limited effect, but it will be useful in the apiary.
Mentha in folk medicine
An infusion of herbs is used as an appetite stimulant, reducing the acidity of gastric juice, and as an analgesic for various gastric diseases. Mentha infusion is also used for coughing, choking, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, headache and pain in the liver.
Outwardly, a strong water infusion of Mentha is used for washing and lotions for convulsions, rheumatic and arthritic pains, for itching of the skin and inflammatory processes of the skin. Peppermint oil is found in Mentha drops, Mentha lozenges, tooth powder, and toothpaste. Menthol mixed with vaseline oil is used for a runny nose, and mixed with paraffin, in the form of pencils, for rubbing with migraine (headache). A solution of menthol in valerian-menthol ester called validol is used for angina pectoris.
