Background and Aims:

Melliferous plants are those used by the European bee, Apis mellifera, to collect nectar and honeydew, which combine with some enzymes to produce honey. The Asteraceae family is one of the preferred angiosperm groups by A. mellifera. Therefore, the objective of this work is to present a list of daisy species with beekeeping importance in the Central-West of Mexico, including its flowering time and distribution by state.

Methods:

A search for melliferous flora works carried out in the Central-West of Mexico was done in several electronic portals to generate a preliminary list. This was reviewed to update the nomenclature by discarding those species that are not distributed in the area and have not been recorded as exotic. Subsequently, herborized specimens were reviewed in the herbaria IEB and MEXU to complement the list. Moreover, photographs of plants in vivo were also taken in the north of Michoacán to illustrate some species used by A. mellifera.

Key results:

In the Central-West of Mexico there are 230 melliferous species of Asteraceae, of which 221 are native and nine introduced. Apis mellifera has a preference for six genera, Ageratina, Aldama, Bidens, Cirsium, Montanoa and Verbesina, which recorded each more than five species used by bees. Michoacán and Jalisco had the most species, with 120 and 99, respectively; in Querétaro and Zacatecas the records were minimal.

Conclusions:

The reduced number of melliferous Asteraceae registered in Querétaro and Zacatecas is mainly due to the lack of melliferous flora studies carried out in their territory. For this reason, it is necessary to continue documenting the plants of beekeeping importance not only in the Central-West, but throughout the country.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )