Pete wrote: I collected pollen samples last spring to see what kinds of pollen bees 
collect in April & May, but I haven't found a way to get the pollen ID'd.


Can't you put it under a microscope?  It might not tell you the exact species but will get you down to the family.  Rex Sawyer's book: Pollen Identification for Beekeepers give full instructions and has hundreds of illustrations. ISBN 0 906449 29 4.

To get down to exact specieswhen there are very similar ones requires special equipment not available to the amateur. Gavin Ramsay of the Scottish Crop Research Institute analysed a sample of my ivy honey from the Isle of Portland and discovered that it wasn't the expected Hedera helix but Hedera hibernica.  I've forgotten the details but the technique was known by an acronym that might have been PCR, but I don't know for what that stands.

Chris

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