Bee Flora of West Bengal

BEE FORAGE AND DISTRICT WISE FLORAL CALENDER OF WEST BENGAL

Introduction

West Bengal as the name implies, is the western part of a larger regional entity named Bengal. Lying entirely in the northern hemisphere, the state lies between 21◦ 38’ N and 27◦ 10’ N latitudes and 85◦ 50’ E and 89◦ 50’ E longitudes. West Bengal covers an area of 87,616 square kilometers. It is bounded along the northern frontiers by the great Himalayas, stretches southwards beyond the tropic of cancer, broad down to the Bay of Bengal in the east. The West Bengal is pre-eminently a land of rivers. The Ganges river basin constitutes about 50 per cent of the state. Brahmaputra has the greatest volume of water of all the rivers. Mahanandi is an important river in Malda. West Bengal has 3 main land regions:

1. The Himalayas in the north zone: The mountain area in the north, though small, is a part of the world’s loftiest mountains, the Himalayas, which rise to eternal snows in north or Darjeeling, dominated by Kanchanjanga and her five satellite peaks. The lofty range of Singalila rising along the Nepal Boarder to the west of the town is covered by Rhododendron forests, which provides good forage for honey bees during April and May
2. The Plateau Fringe: This is a rolling upland, with small isolated standing here and there contains green forests of Sal, Mahua, Palash etc. provide good forage for honeybees during spring.
3. The plains: The vast alluvial plains of the state spread from Jalpaiguri and Siliguri in the north to the Sunderban creeks and the Kanthi littoral in the south. The plains are Mahananda Corridor and Malda plains in the north; South western plains in Ganga banks; South western plains; Sunderbans and kanthi coastal strip.

Seasons and Climate

The climate of West Bengal is generally tropical, hot and humid, monsoon type, except the northern mountains , where the altitutde high. There are four well-defined seasons in West Bengal: the winter (December to February), the summer (March-May) advance of monsoon (June to August)Retreat of the monsoon (September to November).

Natural Vegetation

The natural Vegetation is almost disappeared from West Bengal. Yet forests of three distinct areas exist in the state. These are (i) the forests of the north, which include the mountain temperate forests and the tropical forests of the Duras, (ii) the deciduous forests of the plateau fringe and (iii) the mangrove forests of Sunderbans.The Sunderbans is a special type with predominant estuarial vegetation that is mainly of an evergreen type., Rhizophora conjugata, Soneratia apetala, Avicennia officinalis, Excoecaria agallocha, Sapium indicum, Casuarina equisetifolia, Nipa fruticans and Phoenix paludosa are dominant plants that provide bee forage. Sunderbans is thickly populated by the wild honey bee species, Apis dorsata, due to these sources and to good protection that is provided by thorny mangroves present in the swamps below.

Cultivated Vegetation

The intensity of agricultural cropping in the state is just the same as the average for India it is 16%. 70% percent of the total cultivated area occupies by paddy. Jute is the next important crop. Pulses including gram and peas cover hardly one-tenth of the cultivated land. Oil sedds occupies only trwo percent. Fruits of many types grown, in apples in Darjeeling, peach and pear in Kalimpong, Coconuts in 24, paraganas, Howrahand Midinapore; banana plantation in Singur and Chandernagore; Malda and Murshidabadare important producers of Mangoes; Litchi cultivated in 24, paraganos. Cultivation in Gangetic plains consists mainly of mustards, khesari, coriander, maize, orchards like coconuts, litchi, citrus, areca nut and rose-apple, provides good bee forage. plantations like Eucalyptus and Pongamia contribute to good honey production in this area. In addition, wild shrubs, herbs and vegetable crops (for seed production) provide forage that helps the development of beekeeping in the area.

Floral calendar

Efficiency of the bee-keeping Industry in any country primarily depends on proper utilization of the flora and its improvement so as to augment the component species providing bee-forage. This necessarily requires critical studies of the flora with emphasis on relative evaluation of the individual plant species as nectar or pollen sources. The breeding season of honeybees and honey flow seasonsynchronizes with abundance of food sources in the form of nectar and pollen from profusion of flowering in the locality The field observations on the vegetation are important fore formulation of floral calendar to standardize management patterns of bee colonies. Of these observations most important are

1. Flowering time and duration of bee forage plants.
2. Relative importance and abundance of pollen and nectar
3. Relative densities or area coverage.

Bee flora of West Bengal

Acanthaceae

Amaranthaceae

Anacardiaceae

Apiaceae

Apocyanaceae

Asteraceae

Barringtoniaceae

Bombacaceae

Brassicaceae

Cleomaceae

Combretaceae

Elaeocarpus sikkimensis

Ericaceae

Euphorbiaceae

Fagaceae

Lauraceae

Liliaceae

Linaceae

Loranthaceae

Sida cordifolia Linn.

Sida rhombifolia Linn.

Sonneratiaceae

Symplocas

Theaceae

Tiliaceae

Typhaceae

Verbinaceae

Zinziberaceae

Floral Calendar of South 24 Paraganas District

Cocos nucifera

Brassica sp.

Syzygium malaccensis

Coriandrum sativum (Dhania)

Phoenix spp.

Amaranthus sp.

Aegiceras corniculatum

Nephelium litchi

Spondias pinnata

Sonneratia apetala

Syzygium cumini

Luffa sp.

Acacia nilotica

Ceropsis sp.