New! American & European Foulbrood.(15min 32sec)

		Gallberry is found in the eaastern and southeastern U.S. and as far north as Nova Scotia. It is an upright evergreen bush that has a tendency to sucker and form colonies. It usually falls into a height range of 6-8 ft, but occasionally grows to 10 ft. The leaves are flat and leathery and glossy green above. They range in length from 1 to 2.5 inches and are frequently sparingly toothed on the end opposite their stem.  The species is unisexual (dioecious) with white flowers with 5 to 8 (usually 6) petals. They are borne in small clusters (males uaually 3-7 flowers, females usually 2-3 flowers) on a common stalk that arises from the base of new leaves. Under favorable conditions, the species is a prolific flower producer.  The fruit is generally black and ranges in size from about 0.25 inches to 0.37 inches in diameter. Plants with white fruits are also known but are rare in the wild. Often the fruits stay on the plant through the winter until the next fruiting season, which is the reason one of the species’ common names is winterberry. The fruits are very bitter and it is perhaps for this reason that they provide food for birds and other animals over a long period. Interestingly Morton[11] considers the fruits to be toxic.
Distribution	:	In addition to the U.S. distribution, the species also occurs in Nova Scotia. Arnold[1] provides one of the more complete descriptions of the plant’s native habitat as: “damp depressions of flatwoods, flood plains of rivers, margins of ponds and lakes, bay heads and roadside ditches”. To this I would add that the plant prefers acid soils. Dirr[5] considers the species to be a zone 4 to 9 species. This is not to say that the species is a perfect evergreen in its more northern ranges. My plants “winter burn” badly nearly every winter in the Lansing, MI area. Dirr[5] suggests the winter burn temperature range is roughly -15 to -20o F.
Blooming period	:	Both Arnold and Sanford[1 &15] agree that the species blooms in Florida during March, April and May. Dirr[5] states that it blooms in late May in Athens, GA. Fernald[6] seems to suggest that it also blooms in May in Nova Scotia.
Importance	:	To indicate the importance of gallberry as a honey plant in the Southeast, I think I can do no better than quote from a 1907 article that appeared in Gleaning in Bee Culture written by a Georgia beekeeper named J. J. Wilder[17].  “As a honey-plant perhaps it has no equal in the Southeast. We have never failed to get a surplus from it, even during the most unfavorable weather conditions. It begins to bloom the first of May (settled weather here then), and continues for 24 to 28 days. During this time bees disregard other bloom, working it up to about 8 o’clock for pollen, then the flow comes on for the remainder of the day.......there can be no greater sight in all beedom than to be in the midst of acres of this solid mass of blooms, 4 to 5 feet deep, and see the bees tumbling over the blossoms, loading up and doing but little flying.....It has been said that it was impossible to overstock a good gallberry location. We do not know that this statement is true; but we never heard of one being overstocked. We have had bees in a location where there were 302 colonies, with about the same result as with 100 colonies.....The gallberry should be put in the list of the best honey-plants of the United States.”  Arnold[1] states that gallberry produces one of the largest commercial honey crops in the state of Florida.  Sanford[15]states:  “It is a reliable nectar source, and is considered one of the finest in Florida. Too much rain during the blooming period or dryness.” prior to blooming, however, will result in less nectar production.”  Oertel[12], as a result of his extensive questionnaire survey, records it as of at least some importance in nine states from the area of Delaware to Virginia south to Florida and Texas. From their questionnaires Ayers and Harman[2] found it to be very important in MS, AL, FL and GA and to be of some importance in SC and NC.
Honey potential	:	The Wilder article[17] quoted above provides the information that Gallberry never provides excessive yields and that their largest yield was 147 lbs per hive. Lovell[8], However, provides the information that up to 300 lbs of gallberry honey has been stored by a single hive, but that the usual yields are in the 30 to 50 lbs per hive range.
Honey	:	Wilder[17] states that gallberry honey is a light amber color, has a heavy body, a very mild taste, and is highly flavored. Crane et al.[4] provide data that the Pfund value is 17-42 mm (white to extra light amber).  Lovell[9] has this to say about the flavor of gallberry honey,  “Pure gallberry has nearly the flavor of white clover honey mixed with that from basswood; but it differs from this blend in that it has a slightly tart reaction ten to fifteen seconds after it has been tasted. Its flavor is often injured by an admixture of honey from black titi (Cliftonia monophylla), which is abundant in the swamps and blooms a little earlier.”  The honey is apparently so liked that it rarely gets out of the southeast.  Another of gallberry’s positive characteristics is that it is slow to crystallize. Wilder[17] states, “We have raised tons of this honey, and have never seen a pound of the pure article, well ripened, that granulated.”  Crane et al.[4] provide the following sugar composition data:  Glucose 27.45-32.24%  Fructose 39.63-40.89%  Sucrose 0.35-1.20%  Maltose 6.42-10.48%
Pollen	:	The species provides pollen.

"The colony is willing to expend the energy and effort of its worker bees to collect these resins," says Dr. Michael Simone-Finstrom, a postdoctoral research scholar in NC State's Department of Entomology and lead author of a paper describing the research. "So, clearly this behavior has evolved because the benefit to the colony exceeds the cost."

Wild honey bees normally line their hives with propolis, a mixture of plant resins and wax that has antifungal and antibacterial properties. Domesticated honey bees also use propolis, to fill in cracks in their hives. However, researchers found that, when faced with a fungal threat, bees bring in significantly more propolis -- 45 percent more, on average. The bees also physically removed infected larvae that had been parasitized by the fungus and were being used to create fungal spores.

Researchers know propolis is an effective antifungal agent because they lined some hives with a propolis extract and found that the extract significantly reduced the rate of infection.

And apparently bees can sometimes distinguish harmful fungi from harmless ones, since colonies did not bring in increased amounts of propolis when infected with harmless fungal species. Instead, the colonies relied on physically removing the spores.

However, the self-medicating behavior does have limits. Honey bee colonies infected with pathogenic bacteria did not bring in significantly more propolis -- despite the fact that the propolis also has antibacterial properties. "There was a slight increase, but it was not statistically significant," Simone-Finstrom says. "That is something we plan to follow up on."

There may be a lesson here for domestic beekeepers. "Historically, U.S. beekeepers preferred colonies that used less of this resin, because it is sticky and can be difficult to work with," Simone-Finstrom says. "Now we know that this is a characteristic worth promoting, because it seems to offer the bees some natural defense."