> Chris
>> Do you think it likely that your bees obtain their propolis from a single
>> source or multiple sources?

This is from a report of the EurBee3 conference published in BBKA News:

Propolis Vassya Bankova (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.)
It used to be thought that the chemical composition of propolis was fairly consistent but Prof. Bankova said that it is now clear that it is extremely variable, even in plants from the same families. The habitat, ecosystems and the part of the world the plant grows in all have an influence on the propolis composition. Although I was aware that the poplar tree was a common producer of propolis, I did not know that it is the most common source of propolis throughout Europe, where it is a native, and is even collected where the tree has been introduced, for example in South America. Bees will travel quite a distance to find poplars, but when asked whether the bees dance to indicate a source of poplar, Prof. Bankova said that 'as yet there no evidence for this, although it seems likely'.

Best wishes 
Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/ 


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