Comment on Palo Blanco

My blog break is nearly over and I’ll be posting another plant identification puzzle this week. Meantime, during the break, a few comments on older posts have come through. One comment on Palo Blanco – White Stick or Pole was so interesting to me I thought it deserved some special attention.

Here it is, from Juan:

I feel so grateful for this piece of information. It [the tree] is highly valuable for the honey industry in Panamá. I am responsible of a Beekeeping Development Project in the Panama Canal Basin thru a USAID grant.

I am very happy reading about the palo blanco. This plant is important for honey production. Recently we harvested honey from palo blanco at an apiary site in Nuevo Ocú area. It has a great taste and character.

My family owns a beekeeping business at Chiriqui Province (West border). We manage 3,000 beehives.

In the past we gave logistical support to a STRI project regarding to plants visited by bees: Estudio Apibotánico de Panamá. David Roubik and Bob Schmalzel.

This plant is found in the Paraguay River at El Pantanal area, Caceres, Brazil in the border with Bolivia. The honey taste the same as in Panama.

When our own palo blanco was in bloom, I saw bees around the flowers, just as I’ve seen bees around many other plants in bloom. It never occurred to me that the honey from these aster family flowers might have “great taste and character,” in Juan’s words.

Let this message be a heads-up to potential beekeepers in Panama!