Tamarindus indica L : an important forage plant for Apis florea F in south central India

Abstract - The paper reports pollen analyses of six honey samples and 300 pollen loads of Apis florea, collected in June, 1990 from three small administrative areas of Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Five honey samples were found to be of unifloral origin and one was multifloral. Tamarindus indica was the predominant pollen type in three samples, while Ageratum conyzoides and Punica granatum predominated in the other two unifloral samples. The other significant pollen types recorded include Dodonaea viscosa, Tridax procumbens, Acacia nilotica and Casearia elliptica. Two hundred and thirty-four (78%) pollen loads were found to be unifloral, 40 (13.3%) bifloral and 26 (8.7%) multifloral. One hundred and ninety-nine (85%) of the unifloral loads were from T indica. Further, the pollen of Tamarindus was present in 260 (86.7%) of the total pollen loads examined, which reflects the importance of T indica as a chief source of both nectar and pollen for A florea.