February Flowers in South Carolina

February Flowers in South Carolina
Following the bloom thru the season: important or unimportant bee plants in coastal South Carolina.

Early bloom is extremely important to the bees. The bee season may open in January in a mild winter, but it will surely be in full swing by February. Many early plants are field weeds or forest hardwoods. A few are ornamentals that are planted for their beauty. These pictures are from the 2001 season.

The photos are here for your enjoyment, but remember that they are copyrighted. We are fairly liberal about granting permission for non-profit purposes, but use without permission is theft. Conditions for use of these photos.

Thanks is due to Paul Thompson, Berkely County Extension, and Lisa Bradley of Texas A&M University for help with identification.

Ornamental Plants Fruits Garden Veggies Wildflowers: see this page

Click to enlarge	Wild Radish Raphanus raphanistrum Often mistakenly called mustard, which is a close kin, this is an extremely important pollen source and a minor nectar source for pollinators. The high-protein pollen enables the bees to raise healthy brood in late winter.	*One of the most important pollen plants of the Southeastern USA, its pollen contains high-quality protein for bee forage.* Pollinators Observed: Honeybees, Carpenter bees (two species), mason bees, syrphid flies Pale yellow pollen
Wild radish can bloom any month of the year, but is most prolific in winter and spring. Its resistance to light freezing makes it available to bees when few other flowers bloom. A hard freeze will kill it back to the ground for a while, but it will soon bloom again. Recent warms winters have had bloom all winter. The hard winter of 2000-2001 saw it killed back for much of January, but now blooming prolifically.	Botanical info from Florida Wild radish is considered a noxious weed by some. For this perspective see the University of Georgia comments	Click to enlarge
	Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Honeybees have been observed for forage heavily on dandelion Pollen: Orange	Honeybee with pollen pellets Click to enlarge
	Dandelion Seed Head Click to enlarge
Red Maple Acer rubrum In a mild winter maple bloom begins in January. This year it began about February 10, and was over by February 24. It is an important nectar and pollen source, which stimulates the queen to heavy egg-laying. Pollinators Observed: Honeybees Pale greenish white pollen	Flower Click to enlarge	Seed pods Click to enlarge Maples at Clemson
Click to enlarge	Henbit Lamium amplexicaule Grows in cultivated fields, and will bloom from late winter thru late spring, whenever there is enough time to grow to bloom. Important pollen and nectar source. Frost resistant. Pollinators Observed: Carpenter bees (two species), (Honeybees have been observed in the past) Orange Pollen	Click to enlarge
Carpenter Bees as Pollinators Carpenter Bees as Poor Pollinators Photo of Carpenter on Holly	Click to enlarge	Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica on henbit
Click to enlarge	Old Field or Blue Toadflax Linaria canadensis This tiny flower grows in great profusion in cultivated fields. It grows only about ten inches tall. This is a widely distributed Eastern US and Canada native plant. Heavily worked by honeybees	Linaria in Florida
No Pollinators observed	Unknown #2 Another tiny flower that would be easy to not notice, this grows only about six inches tall. It often is mixed with henbit.	Click to enlarge
	Bluets Houstonia, sp. Family: Rubiaceae	No pollinators observed
The clovers are the most important honey plants of all. Sweet clover is the highest yielding, but many other clovers also make large quantities of high quality honey. Note that each clover head is made up of noany individual flowers. Ones that are mowed will rebloom for two or three months. Pollinators Observed: Honeybees	Dutch White Clover Trifolium repens
Unknown #7 Very small flower growing in lawn
	Mouse-eared Chickweed Very tiny plant, about 3 inches tall, seen along roadside Observed Pollinators: two species of solitary bees
	Vaccinium sp. An early wild huckleberry, member of a large family. Others will bloom until June .	Pollinators observed: blueberry bees, carpenter bees. But no slits in the corolla seen. More on slitting by carpenter bees
Southeastern blueberry bee On Early Huckleberry Habropoda laboriosa Family Anthophoridae A solitary, ground-nesting bee This one was preceded by a carpenter bee that slit the corolla, but the blueberry bee is actually pollinating, not stealing nectar from the slit.		Wild huckleberry is a major nectar and pollen source for bees from February to June, as verious strains bloom progressively.
Longleaf Pine Pinus palustris	Click to enlarge

Hyacinth

February Frut Blossoms February Ornamental Blossoms
March Wild Blossoms March Fruit Blossoms March Ornamental Blossoms

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