Leatherwood honey

Categories: Bee products, Types of honey |



Only genus Eucryphia you can see on both sides of the South Pacific: 2 types – E. cordifolia and E. glutinosa, growing in the mountain forests of southern Chile, and 3 species – in the mountains of Tasmania and south-eastern Australia. Usually it is tall, slender and beautiful tree. Maximum height is 30-40 m (100′). Less common are shrubs of some Australian types. They have hard leaves, and evergreen.

leatherwood


In the superficial tissues of young shoots there is a large number of red waxy fragrant resin, therefore the leaves and young stems shine, and there is quite large clumps of resin on the surface of some Australian plants. In March it blooms profusely. Large, with a diameter of 5 cm (2”), beautiful and fragrant flowers bloom, one in the leaf axil. Flower consists of four linked in the form of a cap sepals, usually with 4 wide imbricate white petals, many stamens, multilane located on the elongated cone axis of flower and  gynoecium. With 4 petals and numerous stamens, the flower resembles a flower hypericum. The flowers are visited by insects that produce pollination. The fruit is a leathery or woody capsule, splitting into boat-shaped leaf, which then separate from the axis of the fruit and disclose along the seam, exposing one or more oblong seeds with large nuclei and abundant endosperm.  Eucryphias are very decorative, they are often grown in parks in the UK and the U.S. (especially the Chilean one). Strong, hard and very dense wood Chilean Eucryphia is used to build houses, furniture, railway sleepers, telegraph poles and carts. The bark is used to obtain tanning, flowers are an excellent source of honey. This Tasmanian leatherwood honey has strong floral scent with a very strong distinctive flavor. It is dark amber.

Leatherwood honey (2)

Leatherwood honey (1)  Leatherwood honey (3)

 

Share Button

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *