Palynological analysis of honeys: a tool to know the vegetation of beekeeping in-terest in a territory

Resumen

The study of pollen present in honey allows us to know its botanical and geographical origins, assess its quality and avoid possible fraud in this product. In this work, important plant communities when regarding beekeeping in a territory are identified through the pollen spectrum of honeys. For this purpose, we have examined 26 honey samples collected in localities of different biogeographical sectors of the province of León (Spain). The honey was prepared following the methodology of Louveaux et al. (1978) with some modifications and the pollen was identified by optical microscopy using the reference pollen collection of the Botany Area of the University of León and different publications. A total of 92 pollen types were identified, Crataegus monogyna, Cytisus scoparius, Erica, Rubus ulmifolius, Salix and Thymus were the most abundant, being present in the highest number of samples. In addition, Lavandula stoechas and Cistus ladanifer reveal the Mediterranean biogeographical Region as the source of some of the honeys. The honeys have been classified as unifloral honeys of: ling heather (2), heather (1), lavender (1), chestnut (4) and blackberry (3); floral and honeydew honeys (6) and multifloral honeys (9). The results obtained reflect the beekeeping importance of the brooms commu-nities belonging to the Cytiso scoparii-Genistetum polygaliphyllae association, the heathlands of Pterosparto lasianthi-Ericetum aragonensis and Pterosparto cantabrici-Ericetum aragonensis, the thorny scrub communities of Tamo communis-Rubetum ulmifolii and Rubo ulmifolii-Rosetum corymbiferae and the chestnut understories. In conclusion, it can be stated that the pollen spectrum of honeys is a reflection of the plant communities and crops with beekeeping interest next to the apiary.