Palynological characterisation of Euphorbia honeys from Morocco

Abstract

Pollen was analysed in 30 unifloral Euphorbia honey samples from the Ifni Massif Region (Anti Atlas, Morocco). The honey samples were directly provided by beekeepers. The quantitative analyis showed that nectar is the main honey source in the samples studied. The qualitative analysis of the samples showed the presence of 35 taxa belonging to 17 families. The Moroccan Euphorbia honeys of the studied region are characterized by their low–medium number of pollen grains (NGP; mean = 5700), 76% of the honeys belong to Class I and II of Maurizio, and by their low honeydew indicator (HDE/NGPn < 0.28), wich indicates their floral origin. For the Euphorbia officinarum subsp. echinus honeys, the most characteristic accompanying species are Eryngium ilicifolium, present in > 90% of the samples, followed by Bellis sp., Capsella f. and Reseda sp. (85%). However, for the E. regis-jubae honeys, the most characteristic accompanying species are Crepis f., present in 100% of the samples.

Keywords:

• Mellitopalynology
• southwestern Morocco
• Euphorbia regis-jubae
• Euphorbia officinarum subsp. echinus
• unifloral honey

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by grants from the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo ‘AECID’ (A/024044/09 to A. Terrab). We are very grateful to beekeepers of the Sidi Ifni and Tiznit regions for providing the honey samples.