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Forager bees are worker bees that venture out of the hive to collect resources like nectar, pollen, water, and propolis for their colony. These bees play a crucial role in the colony's survival by gathering food and materials essential for the hive's growth and well-being.
Here's a more detailed look at forager bees:
Role in the colony:
Foragers are responsible for gathering food and other resources for the hive, including nectar, pollen, water, and propolis.
Foraging duties:
Foragers will collect pollen in pollen sacs, bring water back to the hive for various purposes, and collect propolis (a sticky resin used for sealing cracks and protecting the hive).
Foraging distance and range:
Forager bees operate within a radius of about 2 miles from their hive, but this range can be affected by factors like the surrounding landscape, colony size, and season.
Communication:
Foragers use the waggle dance to communicate the location and quality of food sources to other colony members.
Dangers faced:
Forager bees face several dangers, including toxic pesticides, predators, and food scarcity.
Lifespan:
A forager bee's lifespan is relatively short, typically ending in her third week of foraging.
We should act like an adult, but always have the child's heart.
Bees are known to produce honey, beeswax, propolis and pollen. Also the precious royal jelly and even your poison, used in apitherapy. Striped black and yellow bees are part of the collective imagination because they are commonly portrayed in drawings and children's books. And there are those who only remember the bees for the sweet honey of her or the pain of their bite.
A honeycomb cell measures approximately 5mm wide and is constructed from beeswax exuded from a gland on the honeybee’s abdomen. The cell will be used repeatedly either to store honey or raise brood. Brood cells are cleaned and polished with propolis as each new bee emerges, slowly darkening them over one or more seasons. Cells are offset and you can see the structure of the opposite cell when you look through the comb.
May the growing awareness of the importance of bees lead to many more bee-friendly fields, gardens and public spaces!
In order to be able to feed the world’s growing population, we need ever more food, which must be diverse, balanced and of good quality to ensure the progress and well-being of humankind.
Bees are renowned for their role in providing high-quality food (honey, royal jelly and pollen) and other products used in healthcare and other sectors (beeswax, propolis, honey bee venom). But the work of bees entails much more!
The greatest contribution of bees and other pollinators is the pollination of nearly three quarters of the plants that produce 90% of the world’s food. A third of the world’s food production depends on bees, i.e. every third spoonful of food depends on pollination!
I revisited the pile of monkey puzzle slices at Brookwood Cemetery this week, to see if the bees were still around, if anything they were there in greater numbers, and more sap had oozed ot for them, in some places collecting on the grass below. It was evident that the much warmer weather had softened the sap too, as they seemed to be having more trouble keeping the sticky resin in the right places. This bee has a strand of the sticky sap between it's mandibles and front leg.
FIN CHE C'E' L'APE C'E' SPERANZA
Miele, pappa reale, polline, cera, propoli… i prodotti che derivano dal lavoro delle api sono tantissimi e molto preziosi. Ma ce n’è uno, meno evidente soprattutto per chi vive in città, che è ancora più grande ed essenziale: la biodiversità.
Nonostante il loro ruolo fondamentale per l’ecosistema e la salute degli esseri viventi, le api oggi sono minacciate da pratiche agricole e sociali che ne mettono a rischio la sopravvivenza. Capire perché le api sono così importanti e cercare di proteggerle con iniziative collettive e individuali è dunque necessario per garantire l’equilibrio naturale, la diversità biologica e quella alimentare.
Note tratte dal sito:
coopetruria.coop.it/blog/approfondimenti/importanza-delle...
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AS LONG AS THE BEES EXIST, THERE IS HOPE
Honey, royal jelly, pollen, wax, propolis… the products derived from the work of bees are countless and extremely valuable. But there is one, less obvious, especially to city dwellers, that is even greater and more essential: biodiversity.
Despite their fundamental role in the ecosystem and the health of living beings, bees today are threatened by agricultural and social practices that put their survival at risk. Understanding why bees are so important and seeking to protect them through collective and individual initiatives is therefore essential to ensuring natural balance, biological diversity, and food diversity.
CANON EOS 600D con ob. CANON EF 100 mm f./2,8 L Macro IS USM
Propolis farinosa (Persoon) Fries, 1849 = Cryptomyces versicolor (de Notaris) Berkeley = Hymenula alba (de Candolle) Corda, 1838 = Hysterium fagineum Schrader, 1799 = Mellitiosporium versicolor (Fries) Corda, 1838 = Polydesmia rosae Killermann, 1935 = Propolis alba (de Candolle) Fries, 1849 = Propolis betulae Fuckel, 1871 = Propolis betulae forma callunae E. Bommer & M. Rousseau, 1890 = Propolis betulae var. callunae (E. Bommer, M. Rousseau & Saccardo) Saccardo, 1892 = Propolis epilobii Fries, 1870 = Propolis faginea (Schrader) P. Karsten, 1871 = Propolis faginea forma cinerescens (« cinerascens ») (Persoon) Saccardo, 1878 = Propolis faginea forma nivea (Saccardo) Saccardo, 1878 = Propolis faginea forma strobilina (Desmazières) Saccardo, 1878 = Propolis faginea var. atra E.K. Cash, 1936 = Propolis faginea var. betulae (Fuckel) Rehm, 1888 = Propolis fulva (Peck) Saccardo, 1889 = Propolis parallela Fuckel, 1870 = Propolis rhodoleuca (Sommerfelt) Fries, 1849 = Propolis rhodoleuca var. strobilina (Desmazières) W. Phillips, 1887 = Propolis rosae Fuckel, 1870 = Propolis rubella Fuckel, 1870 = Propolis saligna (Albertini & Schweinitz) Fries, 1849 = Propolis strobilina (Cooke) Saccardo, 1889 = Propolis transversalis Fuckel, 1870 = Propolis versicolor (Fries) Fries, 1849 = Propolis versicolor forma nivea Saccardo, 1878 = Propolis versicolor var. betulae (Fuckel) Rehm, 1888 = Propolis viridis L.M. Dufour, 1896 = Propolomyces farinosus (Persoon) Sherwood, 1977 = Propolomyces versicolor (Fries) Dennis, 1982 = Sclerotium album de Candolle, 1815 = Stictis alba (de Candolle) Fries, 1828 = Stictis cinerescens Persoon, 1822 = Stictis farinosa Persoon, 1822 = Stictis fulva Peck, 1881 = Stictis rhodoleuca Sommerfelt, 1826 = Stictis strobilina Cooke, 1883 = Stictis versicolor Fries, 1822 = Stictis versicolor var. strobilina Desmazières, 1843 = Tremella saligna Albertini & Schweinitz, 1805 = Xylogramma album (de Candolle) Wallroth, 1833.
09-05-07 - Honeybees are shrewd and thrifty recyclers. This bee is recycling propolis. You can see she is putting it in her pollen baskets to carry into the hive.
Lots and lots of Apis mellifera honey bees, collecting sap for 'propolis' (known as bee glue) from a monkey puzzle tree felled over the winter at Brookwood Cemetery! I assume the warming weather has drawn the sap out? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propolis
Traditional hive parts are made from wood. The design and dimension of hive parts are based on the concept of bee space. Bee space was first recognized and promoted by the Philadelphia minister Lorenzo Langstroth in 1851, when he introduced what is commonly known as the Langstroth hive. He discovered that bees build excess comb in a space larger than 3/8 inch. Bees will fill any space less than 1/4 inch with propolis. Therefore, a space between 3/8 inch and 1/4 inch is in a range of acceptable bee space, with 5/16 inch an average that is most acceptable by beekeepers. A Langstroth hive would have a 5/16- or 3/8-inch space separating each frame and the frames from all other hive parts. -John Skinner, University of Tennessee
I revisited the pile of monkey puzzle slices at Brookwood Cemetery this week, to see if the bees were still around, if anything they were there in greater numbers, and more sap had oozed ot for them, in some places collecting on the grass below. It was evident that the much warmer weather had softened the sap too, as they seemed to be having more trouble keeping the sticky resin in the right places. This one is cleaning it's antenna.
Lots and lots of Apis mellifera honey bees, collecting sap for 'propolis' (known as bee glue) from a monkey puzzle tree felled over the winter at Brookwood Cemetery! I assume the warming weather has drawn the sap out? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propolis
Apis mellifera iberiensis, or the Spanish bee (commonly misspelled as iberica), is a Western honey bee subspecies native to the Iberian Peninsula. Also found in the Balearic Islands.
Apis mellifera iberiensis are very vigorous and active at temperatures at which other subspecies of bees are not leaving the hive, supporting long, cold winters. They have a length of the forewings with an average of 9.226 mm and 3.098 mm [5] while the width of the subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera is 9.381 mm and 3.0293 mm respectively.
They do not typically generate multiple queens (polygyny) in any given hive at swarming time. Their movements are fast and rather nervous. They exhibit quick defensive reaction, nervousness, and a propensity to swarm. They do make abundant use of propolis.[6] One or two sentry bees are always present at the entrance of the hive. If the colony is disturbed, the sentries raise a persistent alarm. The hive attack anything that seems threatening for at least 24 hours.
The Iberian Peninsula is an area of hybridization between the north of Africa and Europe, Apis mellifera mellifera, is localized in the northern, Apis mellifera intermissa, and Apis mellifera iberiensis are naturally present too.
A. m. iberiensis haplotype is present in the honey bees of the western United States[13] where the honey bees are not native and they were introduced from Spain during the conquest of America.
Presents six haplotypes different, five of them correspond to an evolutionary lineage from Africa and one from West Europa. From this, infer the hybrid nature of this subspecies, which has a predominant influence in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, with a North African component that is gradually replaced towards the north, through the lineage of Apis mellifera mellifera.
The genetic variability of the microsatellite of the chromosomes, is similar to that of African populations in the number of alleles detected and the values of genetic diversity. This suggests the genetic relationship between populations of Andalusia and North Africa.
Studied be populations of Portugal there were no major differences between different geographical locations. Morphometric studies of Apis mellifera iberiensis populations in Asturias and northern Iberian Peninsula indicated that the Cantabrian Mountains produces insulation allowing for differences between populations.
The results of microsatellites vary markedly between provinces. In Cadiz haplotype homogeneity contrasts with the microsatellite variability, suggesting the occurrence of recent phenomena of introgression from populations with African haplotypes, whose origin is indeterminate.
Western honey bees differentiated into geographic subspecies as they spread from Asia into Europe and Africa. There are currently 28 recognized subspecies of Apis mellifera based largely on these geographic variations. All subspecies are cross fertile. Geographic isolation led to numerous local adaptations as this species spread after the last ice age. These adaptations include brood cycles synchronized with the bloom period of local flora, forming a winter cluster in colder climates, migratory swarming in Africa, enhanced foraging behavior in desert areas, and numerous other inherited traits.
The Western honey bee is native to the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. As of the early 1500s, the Apis mellifera iberiensis was introduced to the Americas, with subsequent introductions of other European subspecies three centuries later.[14] Since then, they have spread throughout the Americas. The 28 subspecies can be assigned to one of four major branches based on work by Ruttner and subsequently confirmed by analysis of mitochondrial DNA. African subspecies are assigned to branch A, northwest European subspecies to branch M, southwest European subspecies to branch C, and Mideast subspecies to branch O. The subspecies are grouped and listed.
The Western honey bee is the third insect, to have its genome mapped. The genome is unusual in having very few transposons. According to the scientists who analysed its genetic code, the western honey bee originated in Africa and spread to Europe in two ancient migrations. They have also discovered that the number of genes in the honey bees related to smell outnumber those for taste. The genome sequence revealed several groups of genes, particularly the genes related to circadian rhythms, were closer to vertebrates than other insects. Genes related to enzymes that control other genes were also vertebrate-like.
For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_mellifera_iberiensis
I do love a honey bee. I think I'm a little biased, Mellisa in Ancient Greek mythology means honey bee. I found this out over 15 yrs ago on my first holiday abroad. Zante Bee's are fascinating little creatures, always working towards the greater good, communicating through vibrations and they produce some of natures sweetest delights. The structure and solidity of a hives geometric walls are created to form a home that can always be built upon and repaired. I nearly forgot to mention pollination- where would we bee without that ? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
World Bee Day Is May 20
Even in Legoland, we have bees that gather what they need to make honey.
In 2014, the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association came up with the idea for World Bee Day. A resolution for the day was proposed to the United Nations by Magestrate Dejan Židan, Project Manager of the World Bee Day Project and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia. On December 20, 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution. All UN countries adopted it unanimously, and 115 countries signed on as co-sponsors. The day was designated “to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.” Put another way, according to the UN, the day's objectives are to bring to the attention of those in power that protecting bees is important, to remind us that we rely on bees and other pollinators, to protect bees and other pollinators in order to help solve problems related to the global food supply and the elimination of hunger and to stop the further loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems.
Slovenia has more beekeepers per capita than any other country, with about one out of every 200 citizens there being a beekeeper. The country suggested that World Bee Day take place in May because bees in the Northern Hemisphere are most active at this time and start reproducing then. It is also at this time that pollination is most needed in the hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is a time when bee products are harvested. Besides honey, these products include the likes of pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, and propolis. The 20th of the month was chosen as the date of the observation because it is the birthday of Anton Janša (1734-1773). A pioneer of modern beekeeping techniques, Janša worked in Slovenia and was one of the most important experts of the eighteenth century in his field. He was the first to teach the modern techniques, doing so at the Beekeeping School in Vienna.
Bees are one of the main pollinators, along with butterflies, wasps, moths, flies, and beetles. Animals such as bats and hummingbirds are pollinators as well. Having a diversity of pollinators is a good thing, but many pollinators and bee colonies are under threat, often on account of humans. Bee colonies are threatened by pesticides, invasive species, change of land use, mono-cropping, intensive agriculture, waste pollution, shrinking habitat, and climate change. Bee and other pollinators are currently declining, and bees have faced mass extinction in the United States and Europe. Being that pollinators are necessary, this is dangerous. Pollinators help plants reproduce, with flowering plants not being able to produce unless pollinators transport pollen from the anthers to the stigmas on the flowers. Pollinators also help improve the quality and diversity of plants. These may be food crops, such as vegetables, fruits, coffee, chocolate, nuts, and seeds. These may be other plants as well, and the work of pollinators also contributes to ensuring there will be fibers like linen and cotton, biofuels, medicines, and construction materials.
Having a prevalence of bees and other pollinators helps ensure that nutrition won't suffer and that there will be food security, as about a third of the food in the world relies on pollination in order for it to be made. Bees also help ensure that farmers will have financial security. Additionally, bees and other pollinators help conserve biodiversity and help signal if an ecosystem is healthy.
By one count, there are 16,000 species of bees, but by another, there may be 25,000 or 30,000. Located on every continent but Antarctica, some of the more common bees are honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees. The most common in North America is the Halictidae, or sweat bee. Bees feed on nectar and pollen, and many live in colonies. Apiculture is the technical word for beekeeping, a practice that dates to Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt. Honey bee colonies are kept in hives, and honey, pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, and propolis are harvested from them. Sometimes bees are also kept for pollinating crops and to sell to other beekeepers.
How to Observe
The following are some ideas on how to observe the day:
Plant some bee-friendly plants and flowers in gardens, balconies, terraces, or meadows. You could also plant a whole bee garden.
Build a bee hotel.
Reduce or change your usage of pesticides.
Purchase honey from a local beekeeper.
Become a beekeeper.
Learn about different types of bees.
Pick up a copy of a book about bees such as The Beekeeper's Bible: Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses.
Focus on the conservation and enhancement of habitats for pollinators.
Make sure that safer pesticides are being used for pollinators.
Make sure policies support indigenous, rural, and local communities.
Implement policies that raise public awareness and knowledge what promotes the best habitat for bees.
School children could visit beekeepers and learn about honey and how flowering plants are necessary in honey production.
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This medication is often recommended by doctors to patients with decreased immunity. It is rich in active ingredients that help the body fight all kinds of illnesses, but it can be consumed by healthy people also.
Ingredients:
½ a liter of lemon juice (obtained from about 1 kg. of lemons) mixed nicely with:
1 kg. of honey (if the honey is crystallized, mix until it melts)
½ a jar of Tahini in which you add the crushed:
250g. of almonds
250g. of walnuts
250g. of hazelnuts
250 g. of sesame (grinded with a machine)
10 g. of cinnamon, grounded or 10 g. of nutmeg, grated
30 ml. of propolis
This remedy gives excellent results. Patients sick from cancer and patients that are beginning chemotherapy should take the whole dose 4 tablespoons daily as follows:
The first spoonful in the morning on an empty stomach,
Second spoonful 2 hours after breakfast,
Third spoonful 2 hours after lunch,
And the last, fourth spoonful at night before bedtime.
When you determine that your immunity is on a desired level you can reduce the dose in half or take a total of 4 small teaspoons a day following the same schedule. The reduced dose can be taken by healthy people to maintain the immunity high.
What is propolis? Propolis is a resinous substance that bees collect from tree buds. You can find it at any natural health store or on the net.
To view more of my images, of insects and creepy crawlies, please click "here" !
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the European honey bee, for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently considered as a clade Anthophila. There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven to nine recognized families, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Some species including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees live socially in colonies. Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae. Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially; the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long, to Megachile pluto, the largest species of leafcutter bee, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in). The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies. Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Apart from honey and pollination, honey bees produce beeswax, royal jelly and propolis.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stingless bees (Tetragonisca angustula) - Stann Creek District, Belize
I was rather enamored with these little bees that I encountered constructing their nest on top of and into an old rusted out piece of sugar mill equipment. I think I have keyed this species out to Tetragonisca angustula, a widespread species found from Central America into much of South America. Like other stingless bees they belong to the diverse tribe Meliponini, which contains over 500 species all of which are stingless! Like regular honeybees that are familiar to most of us in North America and Europe these bees produce honey, but in lesser quantities, this honey can be quite expensive and in some areas is worth as much as 10x more than regular honey bee honey! I imagine they must produce smaller amounts as well, especially considering their size, each individual is only a fraction the size of a regular honeybee. What we can see in this photo is bees working on constructing an entrance to their nest that is below the surface. The point of the chimney structure is to make it difficult for terrestrial predators such as ants to get in and raid the nest. The entrance itself is made up of something called propolis, a waxy sticky substance that repels ants and makes entry more difficult. Besides the tube, there are always soldier caste bees stationed at the entrance as well. These bees will bravely defend their nest from all kinds of invaders from other bees and insects to much larger intruders. While they don't sting, when threatened they persistently bite and some species can eject a irritating fluid. However in my experience almost all the stingless bees I have encountered have been placid and tranquil, with a notable exception of one nest (of a different species) I accidentally ventured too close to in Panama and had a head full of biting bees before I knew it!
Two summers ago a swarm entered unnoticed into a stored brood box full of empty frames. Due to lack of space and time (continuum) it was decided it was best to leave it for the summer and move it in the winter into a new hive in the same apiary. This was done but due to time restrictions, again it was left. This summer, being a less 'swarmy' season, Chris decided to Bailey change the colony to remove the bees then melt the wax out in the solar wax extractor - but not before I took some snaps with my still broken, blind camera. (My birthday is coming up :)
I think the natural comb structures are wonderful showing the natural 'beespace' but obviously the frames can't be lifted out with the comb intact.
Gnam:
Il mondo delle api è davvero affascinante. Riassumiamo i vari processi con cui le api producono i loro preziosi prodotti.
1. Il Miele
Il miele è il prodotto di una complessa trasformazione, una sorta di "rigurgito".
* Raccolta: Le api bottinatrici raccolgono il nettare dai fiori usando la loro lunga ligula (una specie di lingua). Lo immagazzinano in una sacca speciale, lo "stomaco del miele".
* Trasformazione: Tornate nell'alveare, lo passano ad altre api operaie. Durante questo passaggio, il nettare viene arricchito con enzimi dalla saliva delle api, in particolare la invertasi, che scompone il saccarosio in fruttosio e glucosio.
* Disidratazione: Le api depositano la sostanza nelle cellette del favo. Per ridurre l'umidità (dal 70-80% del nettare a circa il 17-18% del miele), le api ventilano attivamente le cellette con le loro ali.
* Sigillatura: Una volta che il miele ha raggiunto la giusta consistenza e umidità, viene sigillato con uno strato di cera per conservarlo.
2. Il Polline
Il polline, viene raccolto sulle zampine.
* Raccolta: Mentre visitano i fiori per il nettare, il polline si attacca al loro corpo peloso.
* Imballaggio: Le api lo spazzolano via dal corpo e lo compattano in palline che immagazzinano nelle "cestelle da polline" (chiamate corbicole) sulle zampe posteriori. Aggiungono un po' di nettare o saliva per renderlo più adesivo.
* Utilizzo: Il polline viene riportato all'alveare e serve come fonte principale di proteine, vitamine e minerali, indispensabili per l'alimentazione delle larve e delle giovani api.
3. La Propoli
La propoli è un'altra trasformazione, ma non di nettare o polline.
* Raccolta: Le api bottinatrici raccolgono resine e sostanze gommose dai germogli e dalla corteccia di alberi come pioppi, querce e abeti.
* Messa a punto: Una volta raccolta, la propoli viene mescolata con cera e secrezioni salivari delle api.
* Utilizzo: Questa sostanza collosa e resinosa ha potenti proprietà antimicrobiche. Le api la usano come "cemento" per sigillare fessure, rafforzare le strutture del favo e disinfettare l'alveare.
4. La Melata
La melata è una sostanza prodotta da altri insetti, non dalle api, ma le api la trasformano in un miele pregiato.
* Origine: Non è una vera e propria evacuazione delle api, ma una sostanza zuccherina che viene espulsa da altri insetti (come afidi e cocciniglie) dopo essersi nutriti della linfa di piante e alberi.
* Raccolta e Trasformazione: Le api raccolgono questa melata dolce e la lavorano esattamente come farebbero con il nettare: la arricchiscono di enzimi, la disidratano e la depositano nei favi.
* Caratteristiche: Il miele di melata, buonissimo, è scuro, meno dolce del miele di fiori e ricco di minerali e antiossidanti. “The world of bees is truly fascinating. Let's summarize the various processes through which bees produce their valuable products.
1. Honey
Honey is the product of a complex transformation, a kind of "regurgitation."
* Collection: Forager bees collect nectar from flowers using their long proboscis (a type of tongue). They store it in a special pouch, their "honey stomach."
* Transformation: Back in the hive, they pass it to other worker bees. During this transfer, the nectar is enriched with enzymes from the bees' saliva, particularly invertase, which breaks down sucrose into fructose and glucose.
* Dehydration: The bees deposit the substance into the honeycomb cells. To reduce the moisture content (from 70-80% in nectar to about 17-18% in honey), the bees actively fan the cells with their wings.
* Sealing: Once the honey has reached the correct consistency and moisture level, it's sealed with a layer of wax to preserve it.
2. Pollen
Pollen is collected on their little legs.
* Collection: While visiting flowers for nectar, pollen clings to their hairy bodies.
* Packing: The bees brush it off their bodies and pack it into balls that they store in "pollen baskets" (called corbiculae) on their hind legs. They add a bit of nectar or saliva to make it stickier.
* Use: The pollen is brought back to the hive and serves as the main source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, which are essential for feeding larvae and young bees.
3. Propolis
Propolis is another transformation, but it's not made from nectar or pollen.
* Collection: Forager bees collect resins and gummy substances from the buds and bark of trees like poplars, oaks, and firs.
* Creation: Once collected, the propolis is mixed with wax and the bees' salivary secretions.
* Use: This sticky, resinous substance has powerful antimicrobial properties. Bees use it as a kind of "cement" to seal cracks, strengthen the comb structures, and disinfect the hive.
4. Honeydew
Honeydew is a substance produced by other insects, not bees, but the bees transform it into a highly prized honey.
* Origin: It is not an actual excretion from the bees. It's a sugary liquid that is expelled by other insects (like aphids and scale insects) after they feed on plant and tree sap.
* Collection and Transformation: Bees collect this sweet honeydew and process it exactly as they would with nectar: they enrich it with enzymes, dehydrate it, and deposit it in the honeycomb.
* Characteristics: Honeydew honey, which is delicious, is dark, less sweet than floral honey, and rich in minerals and antioxidants”.
Knights Landing, CA. The Sacramento River meanders through acres of farmland as a farmworker with a UFW hat tills the soil that will nourish the crops many will savor. Themes of diversity and inclusion and the indigenous people of the land, the Southern Wintun Indians.
Driving through the area, Caroline and I observe hundreds of bee boxes. We picture the honey, the royal jelly, beeswax––even the propolis, and venom. We picture the hives deploying to gather nectar and pollen. Each bee reaching several thousand individual flowers per day. Yolo County crop pollinators. Work sun up, sun down.
🐝🐝🐝🐝
Amazing resource on the characteristics of honey and its flavours:
ucanr.edu/sites/ucce_yolo/index3.cfm?blogtag=pollination&...
View Large: Below the picture, click the bottom right download symbol, scroll down and click View All Sizes. From this page you can load a large version, scrolling to view in great detail.
To view more of my images, of insects and creepy crawlies, please click "here" !
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the European honey bee, for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently considered as a clade Anthophila. There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven to nine recognized families, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. Some species including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees live socially in colonies. Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae. Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially; the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) long, to Megachile pluto, the largest species of leafcutter bee, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in). The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies. Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Apart from honey and pollination, honey bees produce beeswax, royal jelly and propolis.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As part of the marketing rush for the much-lusted-after, oft-delayed Final Fantasy XII, Square Enix has teamed up with beverage producer Suntory to produce a new "Potion" health drink that went on sale in Japan. "Potion" comes as a standalone drink for 205 yen or as a special premium set for 630 yen. The premium set includes a specially-shaped bottle with one of six intricately-detailed bottle caps, as well as a collectible art card (of which there are 27 in total). Fans probably don't care about the drink itself, but here are the details: Within each Potion bottle, you get 100ml of "herb drink," a subtle blend of Royal Jelly, Propolis Extract, Elderberry, Camomile, Sage, Thyme, Hyssop, Fennel, Marjoram, Rosemary, Basil and Melissa, not to mention carbonated water, caffeine and artificial coloring. To be honest, it tastes just like any other Japanese "genki" drink, and there's not much of a difference in taste between this and a can of Red Bull, though Potion probably contains less chemicals.
from Potion
They're still going at it.
Months after I saw these bees collecting monkeypuzzle sap to make propolis (a substance used to repair and seal their hives), there are still a handful at the site of the downed tree. The slices are almost sap free now, I only saw two bees at the last drops, but this large lump of sap was oozing from under the bar on the tree stump. This looks to be far more challenging for the bees, there were several bodies trapped in the sap.
Wasn't putting off the handful of bees still hard at work collecting this precious sap though.
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are presently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while some species – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary.
Bees are found on every continent except for Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than 2 millimetres long, to Megachile pluto, the largest species of leafcutter bee, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres.
Bees feed on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for their larvae. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies.
Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980.
Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature from ancient times to the present day, although primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere where beekeeping is far more common.
EVOLUTION
The ancestors of bees were wasps in the family Crabronidae, which were predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects which were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae. This same evolutionary scenario may have occurred within the vespoid wasps, where the pollen wasps evolved from predatory ancestors. Until recently, the oldest non-compression bee fossil had been found in New Jersey amber, Cretotrigona prisca of Cretaceous age, a corbiculate bee. A bee fossil from the early Cretaceous (~100 mya), Melittosphex burmensis, is considered "an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea sister to the modern bees". Derived features of its morphology (apomorphies) place it clearly within the bees, but it retains two unmodified ancestral traits (plesiomorphies) of the legs (two mid-tibial spurs, and a slender hind basitarsus), showing its transitional status. By the Eocene (~45 mya) there was already considerable diversity among eusocial bee lineages.
The highly eusocial corbiculate Apidae appeared roughly 87 Mya, and the Allodapini (within the Apidae) around 53 Mya. The Colletidae appear as fossils only from the late Oligocene (~25 Mya) to early Miocene. The Melittidae are known from Palaeomacropis eocenicus in the Early Eocene. The Megachilidae are known from trace fossils (characteristic leaf cuttings) from the Middle Eocene. The Andrenidae are known from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, around 34 Mya, of the Florissant shale. The Halictidae first appear in the Early Eocene with species found in amber. The Stenotritidae are known from fossil brood cells of Pleistocene age.
COEVOLUTION
The earliest animal-pollinated flowers were shallow, cup-shaped blooms pollinated by insects such as beetles, so the syndrome of insect pollination was well established before the first appearance of bees. The novelty is that bees are specialized as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that specifically enhance pollination, and are the most efficient pollinating insects. In a process of coevolution, flowers developed floral rewards such as nectar and longer tubes, and bees developed longer tongues to extract the nectar. Bees also developed structures known as scopal hairs and pollen baskets to collect and carry pollen. The location and type differ among and between groups of bees. Most species have scopal hairs on their hind legs or on the underside of their abdomens. Some species in the family Apidae have pollen baskets on their hind legs, while very few lack these and instead collect pollen in their crops. The appearance of these structures drove the adaptive radiation of the angiosperms, and, in turn, bees themselves. Bees coevolved not only with flowers but it is believed that some species coevolved with mites. Some provide tufts of hairs called acarinaria that appear to provide lodgings for mites; in return, it is believed that mites eat fungi that attack pollen, so the relationship in this case may be mutualistc.
CHARACTERISTICS
Bees differ from closely related groups such as wasps by having branched or plume-like setae (hairs), combs on the forelimbs for cleaning their antennae, small anatomical differences in limb structure, and the venation of the hind wings; and in females, by having the seventh dorsal abdominal plate divided into two half-plates.
Bees have the following characteristics:
A pair of large compound eyes which cover much of the surface of the head. Between and above these are three small simple eyes (ocelli) which provide information on light intensity.
The antennae usually have 13 segments in males and 12 in females, and are geniculate, having an elbow joint part way along. They house large numbers of sense organs that can detect touch (mechanoreceptors), smell and taste; and small, hairlike mechanoreceptors that can detect air movement so as to "hear" sounds.
The mouthparts are adapted for both chewing and sucking by having both a pair of mandibles and a long proboscis for sucking up nectar.
The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of robust legs, and a pair of membranous wings on the hind two segments. The front legs of corbiculate bees bear combs for cleaning the antennae, and in many species the hind legs bear pollen baskets, flattened sections with incurving hairs to secure the collected pollen. The wings are synchronised in flight, and the somewhat smaller hind wings connect to the forewings by a row of hooks along their margin which connect to a groove in the forewing.
The abdomen has nine segments, the hindermost three being modified into the sting.
The largest species of bee is thought to be Wallace's giant bee Megachile pluto, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres. The smallest species may be dwarf stingless bees in the tribe Meliponini whose workers are less than 2 millimetres in length.
SOCIALITY
HAPLODIPLOID BREEDING SYSTEM
According to inclusive fitness theory, organisms can gain fitness not just through increasing their own reproductive output, but also that of close relatives. In evolutionary terms, individuals should help relatives when Cost < Relatedness * Benefit. The requirements for eusociality are more easily fulfilled by haplodiploid species such as bees because of their unusual relatedness structure.
In haplodiploid species, females develop from fertilized eggs and males from unfertilized eggs. Because a male is haploid (has only one copy of each gene), his daughters (which are diploid, with two copies of each gene) share 100% of his genes and 50% of their mother's. Therefore, they share 75% of their genes with each other. This mechanism of sex determination gives rise to what W. D. Hamilton termed "supersisters", more closely related to their sisters than they would be to their own offspring. Workers often do not reproduce, but they can pass on more of their genes by helping to raise their sisters (as queens) than they would by having their own offspring (each of which would only have 50% of their genes), assuming they would produce similar numbers. This unusual situation has been proposed as an explanation of the multiple (at least 9) evolutions of eusociality within Hymenoptera.
Haplodiploidy is neither necessary nor sufficient for eusociality. Some eusocial species such as termites are not haplodiploid. Conversely, all bees are haplodiploid but not all are eusocial, and among eusocial species many queens mate with multiple males, creating half-sisters that share only 25% of each-other's genes. But, monogamy (queens mating singly) is the ancestral state for all eusocial species so far investigated, so it is likely that haplodiploidy contributed to the evolution of eusociality in bees.
EUSOCIALIT
Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Eusociality appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterised by cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.True honey bees (genus Apis, of which seven species are currently recognized) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known insects. Their colonies are established by swarms, consisting of a queen and several hundred workers. There are 29 subspecies of one of these species, Apis mellifera, native to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Africanized bees are a hybrid strain of A. mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.[Stingless bees are also highly eusocial. They practise mass provisioning, with complex nest architecture and perennial colonies also established via swarming.
Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial Vespidae such as hornets in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming. Bumblebee colonies typically have from 50 to 200 bees at peak population, which occurs in mid to late summer. Nest architecture is simple, limited by the size of the pre-existing nest cavity, and colonies rarely last more than a year. In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria.
There are many more species of primitively eusocial than highly eusocial bees, but they have been studied less often. Most are in the family Halictidae, or "sweat bees". Colonies are typically small, with a dozen or fewer workers, on average. Queens and workers differ only in size, if at all. Most species have a single season colony cycle, even in the tropics, and only mated females hibernate. A few species have long active seasons and attain colony sizes in the hundreds, such as Halictus hesperus. Some species are eusocial in parts of their range and solitary in others, or have a mix of eusocial and solitary nests in the same population. The orchid bees (Apidae) include some primitively eusocial species with similar biology. Some allodapine bees (Apidae) form primitively eusocial colonies, with progressive provisioning: a larva's food is supplied gradually as it develops, as is the case in honey bees and some bumblebees.
SOLITARY AND COMMUNAL BEES
Most other bees, including familiar insects such as carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax. Bees collect pollen to feed their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as pollen wasps have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee scavenge from carcases to feed their offspring. Solitary bees are important pollinators; they gather pollen to provision their nests with food for their brood. Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency. Some solitary bees have advanced types of pollen-carrying structures on their bodies. Very few species of solitary bee are being cultured for commercial pollination. Most of these species belong to a distinct set of genera which are commonly known by their nesting behavior or preferences, namely: carpenter bees, sweat bees, mason bees, plasterer bees, squash bees, dwarf carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, alkali bees and digger bees.Most solitary bees nest in the ground in a variety of soil textures and conditions while others create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, holes in wood. The female typically creates a compartment (a "cell") with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. A nest may consist of numerous cells. When the nest is in wood, usually the last (those closer to the entrance) contain eggs that will become males. The adult does not provide care for the brood once the egg is laid, and usually dies after making one or more nests. The males typically emerge first and are ready for mating when the females emerge. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting (only in self-defense, if ever). While solitary, females each make individual nests. Some species, such as the European mason bee Hoplitis anthocopoides, and the Dawson's Burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, are gregarious, preferring to make nests near others of the same species, and giving the appearance of being social. Large groups of solitary bee nests are called aggregations, to distinguish them from colonies. In some species, multiple females share a common nest, but each makes and provisions her own cells independently. This type of group is called "communal" and is not uncommon. The primary advantage appears to be that a nest entrance is easier to defend from predators and parasites when multiple females use that same entrance regularly
BIOLOGY
LIFE CYCLE
The life cycle of a bee, be it a solitary or social species, involves the laying of an egg, the development through several moults of a legless larva, a pupation stage during which the insect undergoes complete metamorphosis, followed by the emergence of a winged adult. Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate. The sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilised; after mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilised eggs producing female offspring and unfertilised eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no diapause stage.
The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.
In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and spiracles in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into a winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the exuviae and breaks out of the cell.
FLIGHT
Antoine Magnan's 1934 book Le vol des insectes, says that he and André Sainte-Laguë had applied the equations of air resistance to insects and found that their flight could not be explained by fixed-wing calculations, but that "One shouldn't be surprised that the results of the calculations don't square with reality". This has led to a common misconception that bees "violate aerodynamic theory". In fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used by helicopters. In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift. High-speed cinematography and robotic mock-up of a bee wing showed that lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency". Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small arc, it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a fruitfly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.
NAVIGATION, COMMUNICATION AND FINDING FOOD
The ethologist Karl von Frisch studied navigation in the honey bee. He showed that honey bees communicate by the waggle dance, in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth's magnetic field. He showed that the sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark beehive. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a "rich, map-like organization".
DIGESTION
The gut of bees is relatively simple, but multiple metabolic strategies exist in the gut microbiota. Pollinating bees consume nectar and pollen, which require different digestion strategies by somewhat specialized bacteria. While nectar is a liquid of mostly monosaccharide sugars and so easily absorbed, pollen contains complex polysaccharides: branching pectin and hemicellulose. Approximately five groups of bacteria are involved in digestion. Three groups specialize in simple sugars (Snodgrassella and two groups of Lactobacillus), and two other groups in complex sugars (Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium). Digestion of pectin and hemicellulose is dominated by bacterial clades Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium respectively. Bacteria that cannot digest polysaccharides obtain enzymes from their neighbors, and bacteria that lack certain amino acids do the same, creating multiple ecological niches.
Although most bee species are nectarivorous and palynivorous, some are not. Particularly unusual are vulture bees in the genus Trigona, which consume carrion and wasp brood, turning meat into a honey-like substance.
ECOLOGY
FLORAL RELATIONSHIPS
Most bees are polylectic (generalist) meaning they collect pollen from a range of flowering plants, but some are oligoleges (specialists), in that they only gather pollen from one or a few species or genera of closely related plants. Specialist pollinators also include bee species which gather floral oils instead of pollen, and male orchid bees, which gather aromatic compounds from orchids (one of the few cases where male bees are effective pollinators). Bees are able to sense the presence of desirable flowers through ultraviolet patterning on flowers, floral odors, and even electromagnetic fields. Once landed, a bee then uses nectar quality and pollen taste to determine whether to continue visiting similar flowers.
In rare cases, a plant species may only be effectively pollinated by a single bee species, and some plants are endangered at least in part because their pollinator is also threatened. But, there is a pronounced tendency for oligolectic bees to be associated with common, widespread plants visited by multiple pollinator species. For example, the creosote bush in the arid parts of the United States southwest is associated with some 40 oligoleges.
AS MIMICS AND MODELS
Many bees are aposematically coloured, typically orange and black, warning of their ability to defend themselves with a powerful sting. As such they are models for Batesian mimicry by non-stinging insects such as bee-flies, robber flies and hoverflies, all of which gain a measure of protection by superficially looking and behaving like bees.
Bees are themselves Müllerian mimics of other aposematic insects with the same colour scheme, including wasps, lycid and other beetles, and many butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) which are themselves distasteful, often through acquiring bitter and poisonous chemicals from their plant food. All the Müllerian mimics, including bees, benefit from the reduced risk of predation that results from their easily recognised warning coloration.
Bees are also mimicked by plants such as the bee orchid which imitates both the appearance and the scent of a female bee; male bees attempt to mate (pseudocopulation) with the furry lip of the flower, thus pollinating it
AS BROOD PARASITES
Brood parasites occur in several bee families including the apid subfamily Nomadinae. Females of these species lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa) and do not construct their own nests. They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the "cuckoo" bee larva hatches, it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and often the host egg also. In particular, the Arctic bee species, Bombus hyperboreus is an aggressive species that attacks and enslaves other bees of the same subgenus. However, unlike many other bee brood parasites, they have pollen baskets and often collect pollen.
In Southern Africa, hives of African honeybees (A. mellifera scutellata) are being destroyed by parasitic workers of the Cape honeybee, A. m. capensis. These lay diploid eggs ("thelytoky"), escaping normal worker policing, leading to the colony's destruction; the parasites can then move to other hives.
The cuckoo bees in the Bombus subgenus Psithyrus are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size. This common pattern gave rise to the ecological principle "Emery's rule". Others parasitize bees in different families, like Townsendiella, a nomadine apid, two species of which are cleptoparasites of the dasypodaid genus Hesperapis, while the other species in the same genus attacks halictid bees.
NOCTURNAL BEES
Four bee families (Andrenidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, and Apidae) contain some species that are crepuscular. Most are tropical or subtropical, but some live in arid regions at higher latitudes. These bees have greatly enlarged ocelli, which are extremely sensitive to light and dark, though incapable of forming images. Some have refracting superposition compound eyes: these combine the output of many elements of their compound eyes to provide enough light for each retinal photoreceptor. Their ability to fly by night enables them to avoid many predators, and to exploit flowers that produce nectar only or also at night.
PREDATORS, PARASITES AND PATHOGENS
Vertebrate predators of bees include bee-eaters, shrikes and flycatchers, which make short sallies to catch insects in flight. Swifts and swallows fly almost continually, catching insects as they go. The honey buzzard attacks bees' nests and eats the larvae. The greater honeyguide interacts with humans by guiding them to the nests of wild bees. The humans break open the nests and take the honey and the bird feeds on the larvae and the wax. Among mammals, predators such as the badger dig up bumblebee nests and eat both the larvae and any stored food.Specialist ambush predators of visitors to flowers include crab spiders, which wait on flowering plants for pollinating insects; predatory bugs, and praying mantises, some of which (the flower mantises of the tropics) wait motionless, aggressive mimics camouflaged as flowers. Beewolves are large wasps that habitually attack bees; the ethologist Niko Tinbergen estimated that a single colony of the beewolf Philanthus triangulum might kill several thousand honeybees in a day: all the prey he observed were honeybees. Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include robber flies and dragonflies. Honey bees are affected by parasites including acarine and Varroa mites. However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites.
RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANS
IN MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE
Homer's Hymn to Hermes describes three bee-maidens with the power of divination and thus speaking truth, and identifies the food of the gods as honey. Sources associated the bee maidens with Apollo and, until the 1980s, scholars followed Gottfried Hermann (1806) in incorrectly identifying the bee-maidens with the Thriae. Honey, according to a Greek myth, was discovered by a nymph called Melissa ("Bee"); and honey was offered to the Greek gods from Mycenean times. Bees were also associated with the Delphic oracle and the prophetess was sometimes called a bee.
The image of a community of honey bees has been used from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, and by political and social theorists such as Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx as a model for human society. In English folklore, bees would be told of important events in the household, in a custom known as "Telling the bees".
IN ART AND LITERATURE
Some of the oldest examples of bees in art are rock paintings in Spain which have been dated to 15,000 BC.
W. B. Yeats's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1888) contains the couplet "Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / And live alone in the bee loud glade." At the time he was living in Bedford Park in the West of London. Beatrix Potter's illustrated book The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910) features Babbity Bumble and her brood (pictured). Kit Williams' treasure hunt book The Bee on the Comb (1984) uses bees and beekeeping as part of its story and puzzle. Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees (2004), and the 2009 film starring Dakota Fanning, tells the story of a girl who escapes her abusive home and finds her way to live with a family of beekeepers, the Boatwrights.
The humorous 2007 animated film Bee Movie used Jerry Seinfeld's first script and was his first work for children; he starred as a bee named Barry B. Benson, alongside Renée Zellweger. Critics found its premise awkward and its delivery tame. Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale (2014) describes his efforts to save bumblebees in Britain, as well as much about their biology. The playwright Laline Paull's fantasy The Bees (2015) tells the tale of a hive bee named Flora 717 from hatching onwards.
BEEKEEPING
Humans have kept honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, for millennia. Beekeepers collect honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly from hives; bees are also kept to pollinate crops and to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers.
Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000 years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian art around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used; jars of honey were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. From the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested without destroying the colony. Among Classical Era authors, beekeeping with the use of smoke is described in Aristotle's History of Animals Book 9. The account mentions that bees die after stinging; that workers remove corpses from the hive, and guard it; castes including workers and non-working drones, but "kings" rather than queens; predators including toads and bee-eaters; and the waggle dance, with the "irresistible suggestion" of άpοσειονται ("aroseiontai", it waggles) and παρακολουθούσιν ("parakolouthousin", they watch).
Beekeeping is described in detail by Virgil in his Georgics; it is also mentioned in his Aeneid, and in Pliny's Natural History.
AS COMMERCIAL POLLINATORS
Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in many ecosystems that contain flowering plants. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on pollination by insects, birds and bats, most of which is accomplished by bees, whether wild or domesticated. Over the last half century, there has been a general decline in the species richness of wild bees and other pollinators, probably attributable to stress from increased parasites and disease, the use of pesticides, and a general decrease in the number of wild flowers. Climate change probably exacerbates the problem.
Contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. After the introduction of Varroa mites, feral honey bees declined dramatically in the US, though their numbers have since recovered. The number of colonies kept by beekeepers declined slightly, through urbanization, systematic pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites, and the closure of beekeeping businesses. In 2006 and 2007 the rate of attrition increased, and was described as colony collapse disorder. In 2010 invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus Nosema ceranae were shown to be in every killed colony, and deadly in combination. Winter losses increased to about 1/3. Varroa mites were thought to be responsible for about half the losses.
Apart from colony collapse disorder, losses outside the US have been attributed to causes including pesticide seed dressings, using neonicotinoids such as Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam. From 2013 the European Union restricted some pesticides to stop bee populations from declining further. In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that bees faced increased risk of extinction because of global warming. In 2018 the European Union decided to ban field use of all three major neonicotinoids; they remain permitted in veterinary, greenhouse, and vehicle transport usage.
Farmers have focused on alternative solutions to mitigate these problems. By raising native plants, they provide food for native bee pollinators like Lasioglossum vierecki and L. leucozonium, leading to less reliance on honey bee populations.
AS FOOD PRODUCERS
Honey is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey. Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in rock paintings in Spain dated to 15,000 BC.
Honey bees are used commercially to produce honey. They also produce some substances used as dietary supplements with possible health benefits, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly, though all of these can also cause allergic reactions.
AS FOOD (BE BROOD)
Bees are partly considered edible insects. Indigenous people in many countries eat insects, including the larvae and pupae of bees, mostly stingless species. They also gather larvae, pupae and surrounding cells, known as bee brood, for consumption. In the Indonesian dish botok tawon from Central and East Java, bee larvae are eaten as a companion to rice, after being mixed with shredded coconut, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.
Bee brood (pupae and larvae) although low in calcium, has been found to be high in protein and carbohydrate, and a useful source of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and trace minerals iron, zinc, copper, and selenium. In addition, while bee brood was high in fat, it contained no fat soluble vitamins (such as A, D, and E) but it was a good source of most of the water-soluble B-vitamins including choline as well as vitamin C. The fat was composed mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with 2.0% being polyunsaturated fatty acids.
AS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax and apitoxin (Bee venom). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported by evidence-based medicine.
STINGS
The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In Lasioglossum leucozonium, the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-heptacosane, and 22-docosanolide. However, the secretions of these glands could also be used for nest construction.
WIKIPEDIA
Pollen, nectar, propolis or water, foraging honeybees are tasked with collecting one of these four items. Once they have located a reliable water source with an agreeable flavor they will return to that source over and over again. Even here in Florida with abundant rainfall and water virtually everywhere they will return to their chosen source.
Lots and lots of Apis mellifera honey bees, collecting sap for 'propolis' (known as bee glue) from a monkey puzzle tree felled over the winter at Brookwood Cemetery! I assume the warming weather has drawn the sap out? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propolis
Jackfruit prepared by and for MAC, purchased at Centra, Barrie, Ontario Canada.
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree,[7] is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae) native to southwest India.[8][9][10]
The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropicallowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 lb) in weight, 90 cm (35 in) in length, and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter.[10][11] A mature jackfruit tree can produce about 100 to 200 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.[10][12]
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.[13][14] The ripe and unripe fruit and seeds are consumed. The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Etymology and history:
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalamlanguage term chakka (Malayalam chakka pazham).[12][15] When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast(Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yuletranslated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East.[16]
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India.[17][18] Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.[19]
The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as evidenced by the fact that the Southeast Asian names for the fruit are not derived from the Sanskrit roots. It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula. The word for jackfruit in Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian is reconstructed as *laŋkaq. Modern cognates include Javanese, Malay, Balinese, and Cebuano nangka; Tagalog, Pangasinan, Bikol and Ilocano langka; Chamorro lanka or nanka; Kelabit nakan; Wolio nangke; Ibaloi dangka; and Lun Dayeh laka. Note, however, that the fruit was only recently introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire.[20][21]
Botanical description:
Shape, trunk and leaves:
Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk with a dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 centimeters. It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky juice is released.
The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged. They are gummy and thick and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 1 to 3 inches long. The leathery leaf blade is 7 to 15 inches long, and 3 to 7 inches wide and is oblong to ovate in shape.
In young trees, the leaf edges are irregularly lobed or split. On older trees, the leaves are rounded and dark green, with a smooth leaf margin. The leaf blade has a prominent main nerve and starting on each side six to eight lateral nerves. The stipules are egg-shaped at a length of 1.5 to 8 centimeters.
Flowers and fruit:
The inflorescences are formed on the trunk, branches or twigs (caulifloria). Jackfruit trees are monoecious, that is there are both female and male flowers on a tree. The inflorescences are pedunculated, cylindrical to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, to about 10-12 centimeters long and 5-7 centimeters wide.
Inflorescences are initially completely enveloped in egg-shaped cover sheets which rapidly slough off.
The flowers are very small, there are several thousand flowers in an inflorescence, which sit on a fleshy rachis.[22] The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two 1 to 1.5 millimeters membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.
The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers. The fruits grow on a long and thick stem on the trunk. They vary in size and ripen from an initially yellowish-greenish to yellow, and then at maturity to yellowish-brown. They possess a hard, gummy shell with small pimples surrounded with hard, hexagonal tubercles. The very large and variously shaped fruit have a length of 30 to 100 centimeters and a diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters and can weigh 10-25 kilograms or more.
The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about 5-10 centimeters thick. Radiating from this are many 10 centimeter long individual fruits. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about 3 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
There may be about 100-500 seeds per fruit. The seed coat consists of a thin, waxy, parchment-like and easily removable testa (husk) and a brownish, membranous tegmen. The cotyledons are usually unequal in size, the endosperm is minimally present.[23]
The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. [3] The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a very sticky, milky liquid, which can hardly be removed from the skin, even with soap and water. To clean the hands after "unwinding" the pulp an oil or other solvent is used. For example, street vendors in Tanzania, who sell the fruit in small segments, provide small bowls of kerosene for their customers to cleanse their sticky fingers.[citation needed]
An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.[24]
As food:
Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle flavoring.[10] It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice as es teler in Indonesia or halo-halo in the Philippines. For the traditional breakfast dish in southern India, idlis, the fruit is used with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried, or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.
The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, and are said to have a milky, sweet taste often compared to Brazil nuts. They may be boiled, baked, or roasted. When roasted, the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks (either by boiling or fire-roasting) or to make desserts. In Java, the seeds are commonly cooked and seasoned with salt as a snack. They are quite commonly used in curry in India in the form of a traditional lentil and vegetable mix curry.
Aroma:
Jackfruit has a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma. In a study of flavour volatiles in five jackfruit cultivars, the main volatile compounds detected were ethyl isovalerate, propyl isovalerate, butyl isovalerate, isobutyl isovalerate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, 1-butanol, and 2-methylbutan-1-ol.[25]
A fully ripe and unopened jackfruit is known to "emit a strong aroma", with the inside of the fruit described as smelling of pineapple and banana.[10] After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.[26]
Nutritional value:
The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The pulp is composed of 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100-g portion, raw jackfruit provides 400 kJ (95 kcal) and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (25% DV). It contains moderate levels (10-19% DV) of vitamin C and potassium, with no other nutrients in significant content.
The jackfruit also provides a potential part of the solution for tropical countries facing problems with food security,[12] such as several countries of Africa.[27]
Culinary uses:
The flavor of the ripe fruit is comparable to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana.[10][13] Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit flesh. In Indochina, the two varieties are the "hard" version (crunchier, drier, and less sweet, but fleshier), and the "soft" version (softer, moister, and much sweeter, with a darker gold-color flesh than the hard variety). Unripe jackfruit has a mild flavor and meat-like texture and is used in curry dishes with spices in many cuisines. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining jackfruit flesh is chopped in a labor-intensive process[28] into edible portions and cooked before serving.
The cuisines of many Asian countries use cooked young jackfruit.[13] In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food. The boiled young jackfruit is used in salads or as a vegetable in spicy curries and side dishes, and as fillings for cutlets and chops. It may be used by vegetarians as a substitute for meat such as pulled pork. It may be cooked with coconut milk and eaten alone or with meat, shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India, unripe jackfruit slices are deep-fried to make chips.
South Asia:
In Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry.[29] In India, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: muttomvarikka and sindoor. Muttomvarikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe sindoor fruit is soft.[30]
A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.
Southeast Asia:
In Indonesia and Malaysia, jackfruit is called nangka. The ripe fruit is usually sold separately and consumed on its own, or sliced and mixed with shaved ice as a sweet concoction dessert such as es campur and es teler. The ripe fruit might be dried and fried as kripiknangka, or jackfruit cracker. The seeds are boiled and consumed with salt, as it contains edible starchy content; this is called beton. Young (unripe) jackfruit is made into curry called gulai nangka or stewed called gudeg.
In the Philippines, jackfruit is called langka in Filipino and nangkà[31] in Cebuano. The unripe fruit is usually cooked in coconut milk and eaten with rice; this is called ginataang langka. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying. The seeds are also boiled before being eaten.
Thailand is a major producer of jackfruit, which are often cut, prepared, and canned in a sugary syrup (or frozen in bags or boxes without syrup) and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.
In Vietnam, jackfruit is used to make jackfruit chè, a sweet dessert soup, similar to the Chinese derivative bubur cha cha. The Vietnamese also use jackfruit purée as part of pastry fillings or as a topping on xôi ngọt (a sweet version of sticky rice portions).
Jackfruits are found primarily in the eastern part of Taiwan. The fresh fruit can be eaten directly or preserved as dried fruit, candied fruit, or jam. It is also stir-fried or stewed with other vegetables and meat.
Americas:
In Brazil, three varieties are recognized: jaca-dura, or the "hard" variety, which has a firm flesh, and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kg each; jaca-mole, or the "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits with a softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or the "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.[32]
Africa:
From a tree planted for its shade in gardens, it became an ingredient for local recipes using different fruit segments. The seeds are boiled in water or roasted to remove toxic substances, and then roasted for a variety of desserts. The flesh of the unripe jackfruit is used to make a savory salty dish with smoked pork. The jackfruit arils are used to make jams or fruits in syrup, and can also be eaten raw.
Wood and manufacturing:
The golden yellow timber with good grain is used for building furniture and house construction in India. It is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction,[10] and fish sauce barrels.[33]
The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.
Cultural significance:
The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago.[34] It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.
The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples[35] The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.[36]
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh,[29] and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.[37][38]
Cultivation:
In terms of taking care of the plant, minimal pruning is required; cutting off dead branches from the interior of the tree is only sometimes needed.[10] In addition, twigs bearing fruit must be twisted or cut down to the trunk to induce growth for the next season.[10] Branches should be pruned every three to four years to maintain productivity.[10]
Some trees carry too many mediocre fruits and these are usually removed to allow the others to develop better to maturity.
Stingless bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis are jackfruit pollinators, so play an important role in jackfruit cultivation.[39]
Production and marketing:
Edit
In 2017, India produced 1.4 million tonnes of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.[40]
The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers.[41] The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.
Commercial availability:
Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia.[10][42] It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream.[42] It is also canned and sold as a vegetable for export.
Outside of countries where it is grown, jackfruit can be obtained year-round, both canned or dried. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.
Invasive species:
Edit
In Brazil, the jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-19th century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.
Recently, the species has expanded excessively, and its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals; this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on birds' eggs and nestlings, increases in marmoset or coati population are detrimental for local bird populations.
References:
Under its accepted name Artocarpus heterophyllus (then as heterophylla) this species was described in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 209. (1789) by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, from a specimen collected by botanist Philibert Commerson. Lamarck said of the fruit that it was coarse and difficult to digest. "Larmarck's original description of tejas". Retrieved 2012-11-23. On mange la chair de son fruit, ainsi que les noyaux qu'il contient; mais c'est un aliment grossier et difficile à digérer.
^ "Name - !Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "TPL, treatment of Artocarpus heterophyllus". The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Name – Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. synonyms". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. — The Plant List". Theplantlist.org. 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Tropical Biology Association. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Love, Ken; Paull, Robert E (June 2011). "Jackfruit" (PDF). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
^ Boning, Charles R. (2006). Florida's Best Fruiting Plants:Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. p. 107.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morton, Julia. "Jackfruit". Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ "Jackfruit Fruit Facts". California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. 1996. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ a b c Silver, Mark. "Here's The Scoop On Jackfruit, A Ginormous Fruit To Feed The World". NPR. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ a b c Janick, Jules; Paull, Robert E. The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts. p. 155.
^ The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts, By Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull, pp. 481–485
^ Pradeepkumar, T.; Jyothibhaskar, B. Suma; Satheesan, K. N. (2008). Prof. K. V. Peter, ed. Management of Horticultural Crops. Horticultural Science Series. 11. New Delhi, India: New India Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-89422-49-3. The English name jackfruit is derived from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.
^ Friar Jordanus, 14th century, as translated from the Latin by Henry Yule (1863). Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. Hakluyt Society. p. 13. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, online edition
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Bartleby. 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-30.
^ Stewart, Ralph R. (1984). "How Did They Die?". Taxon. 33 (1): 48–52. doi:10.2307/1222028. JSTOR 1222028.
^ Blench, Roger= (2008). "A history of fruits on the Southeast Asian mainland" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki; Uesugi, Akinori. Occasional Paper 4: Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past. Indus Project. pp. 115–137. ISBN 9784902325331.
^ Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen (2013). "The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: A Work in Progress". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (2): 493–523. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0016.
^ D. KN G Pushpakumara: Floral and Fruit Morphology and Phenology of Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae). In: Sri Lankan J. Agric. Sci. Vol. 43, 2006, pp. 82-106, online (PDF), on researchgate.net, accessed May 24, 2018.
^ N. Haq: Jackfruit Artocarpus heterophyllus. International Center for Underutilized Crops, 2006, ISBN 0-85432-785-1, p. 4-11, 72 f.
^ Artocarpus heterophyllus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
^ Ong, B.T.; Nazimah, S.A.H.; Tan, C.P.; Mirhosseini, H.; Osman, A.; Hashim, D. Mat; Rusul, G. (August 2008). "Analysis of volatile compounds in five jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) cultivars using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS)". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 21 (5): 416–422. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2008.03.002. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
^ Spada, Fernanda Papa; et al. (21 January 2017). "Optimization of Postharvest Conditions To Produce Chocolate Aroma from Jackfruit Seeds". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 65 (6): 1196–1208. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04836. PMID 28110526.
^ Mwandambo, Pascal (11 March 2014). "Venture in rare jackfruit turns farmers' fortunes around". Standard Online. Standard Group Ltd. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ Gene Wu [@@GeneforTexas] (2018-08-21). "Look for this thread later when we do: "You don't know Jackfruit."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ a b Matin, Abdul. "A poor man's fruit: Now a miracle food!". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
^ Ashwini. A (2015). Morpho-Molecular Characterization of Jackfruit. Artocarpus heterophyllus. Kerala Agricultural University.
^ Wolff, John U. (1972). "Nangkà". A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan. 2. p. 698.
^ General information Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Agriculture, State of Bahia
^ "Nam O fish sauce village". Danang Today. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
^ Preedy, Victor R.; Watson, Ronald Ross; Patel, Vinood B., eds. (2011). Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention (1st ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press. p. 678. ISBN 978-0-12-375689-3.
^ "Gỗ mít nài". Nhagoviethung.com. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeast Thailand, J.L. Taylor 1993 p. 218
^ Subrahmanian, N.; Hikosaka, Shu; Samuel, G. John; Thiagarajan, P. (1997). Tamil social history. Institute of Asian Studies. p. 88. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
^ "Kerala's State fruit!". Retrieved 2018-03-17.
^ Kothai, S. (2015). "Environmental Impact on Stingless Bee Propolis (Tetragonula iridipennis) Reared from Two Different Regions of Tamilnadu — A Comparative Study". International Journal of ChemTech Research.
^ Benjamin Elisha Sawe (25 April 2017). "World Leaders In Jackfruit Production". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ Haq, Nazmul (2006). Jackfruit: Artocarpus heterophyllus (PDF). Southampton, UK: Southampton Centre for Underutilised Crops. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-85432-785-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-05.
^ a b Goldenberg, Suzanne (23 April 2014). "Jackfruit heralded as 'miracle' food crop". The Guardian, London, UK. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
Whole Jackfruit $1.29 cents/pound from Mexico.
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Business hours: 9:00AM - 9:00PM 7/7.
We highly recommend shopping at this supermarket.
Jackfruit, or Artocarpus heterophyllus, is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, capable of reaching 100 pounds. And it grows on the branches — and the trunks — of trees that can reach 30, 40, 50 feet. Growing to the hefty weight of 80 pounds. It is also the national fruit of Bangladesh and may have been cultivated in India as early as 6,000 years ago. Related to the breadfruit and marang, its buttery flesh is thick with fiber and often described as starchy in flavor.
Many say it tastes like a cross between an apple, pineapple, and banana.One popular way to prepare this fruit is to deep fry it into crunchy jackfruit chips.
Jackfruits are also a nutritional bonanza: high in protein, potassium and vitamin B. And, with about 95 calories in about a half a cup, they aren't quite as high-carb or caloric as staples like rice or corn.
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree,[7] is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae) native to southwest India.[8][9][10]
The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropicallowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 lb) in weight, 90 cm (35 in) in length, and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter.[10][11] A mature jackfruit tree can produce about 100 to 200 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.[10][12]
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.[13][14] The ripe and unripe fruit and seeds are consumed. The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Etymology and history:
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalamlanguage term chakka (Malayalam chakka pazham).[12][15] When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast(Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yuletranslated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East.[16]
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India.[17][18] Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.[19]
The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as evidenced by the fact that the Southeast Asian names for the fruit are not derived from the Sanskrit roots. It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula. The word for jackfruit in Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian is reconstructed as *laŋkaq. Modern cognates include Javanese, Malay, Balinese, and Cebuano nangka; Tagalog, Pangasinan, Bikol and Ilocano langka; Chamorro lanka or nanka; Kelabit nakan; Wolio nangke; Ibaloi dangka; and Lun Dayeh laka. Note, however, that the fruit was only recently introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire.[20][21]
Botanical description:
Shape, trunk and leaves:
Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk with a dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 centimeters. It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky juice is released.
The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged. They are gummy and thick and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 1 to 3 inches long. The leathery leaf blade is 7 to 15 inches long, and 3 to 7 inches wide and is oblong to ovate in shape.
In young trees, the leaf edges are irregularly lobed or split. On older trees, the leaves are rounded and dark green, with a smooth leaf margin. The leaf blade has a prominent main nerve and starting on each side six to eight lateral nerves. The stipules are egg-shaped at a length of 1.5 to 8 centimeters.
Flowers and fruit:
The inflorescences are formed on the trunk, branches or twigs (caulifloria). Jackfruit trees are monoecious, that is there are both female and male flowers on a tree. The inflorescences are pedunculated, cylindrical to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, to about 10-12 centimeters long and 5-7 centimeters wide.
Inflorescences are initially completely enveloped in egg-shaped cover sheets which rapidly slough off.
The flowers are very small, there are several thousand flowers in an inflorescence, which sit on a fleshy rachis.[22] The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two 1 to 1.5 millimeters membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.
The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers. The fruits grow on a long and thick stem on the trunk. They vary in size and ripen from an initially yellowish-greenish to yellow, and then at maturity to yellowish-brown. They possess a hard, gummy shell with small pimples surrounded with hard, hexagonal tubercles. The very large and variously shaped fruit have a length of 30 to 100 centimeters and a diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters and can weigh 10-25 kilograms or more.
The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about 5-10 centimeters thick. Radiating from this are many 10 centimeter long individual fruits. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about 3 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
There may be about 100-500 seeds per fruit. The seed coat consists of a thin, waxy, parchment-like and easily removable testa (husk) and a brownish, membranous tegmen. The cotyledons are usually unequal in size, the endosperm is minimally present.[23]
The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. [3] The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a very sticky, milky liquid, which can hardly be removed from the skin, even with soap and water. To clean the hands after "unwinding" the pulp an oil or other solvent is used. For example, street vendors in Tanzania, who sell the fruit in small segments, provide small bowls of kerosene for their customers to cleanse their sticky fingers.[citation needed]
An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.[24]
As food:
Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle flavoring.[10] It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice as es teler in Indonesia or halo-halo in the Philippines. For the traditional breakfast dish in southern India, idlis, the fruit is used with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried, or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.
The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, and are said to have a milky, sweet taste often compared to Brazil nuts. They may be boiled, baked, or roasted. When roasted, the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks (either by boiling or fire-roasting) or to make desserts. In Java, the seeds are commonly cooked and seasoned with salt as a snack. They are quite commonly used in curry in India in the form of a traditional lentil and vegetable mix curry.
Aroma:
Jackfruit has a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma. In a study of flavour volatiles in five jackfruit cultivars, the main volatile compounds detected were ethyl isovalerate, propyl isovalerate, butyl isovalerate, isobutyl isovalerate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, 1-butanol, and 2-methylbutan-1-ol.[25]
A fully ripe and unopened jackfruit is known to "emit a strong aroma", with the inside of the fruit described as smelling of pineapple and banana.[10] After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.[26]
Nutritional value:
The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The pulp is composed of 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100-g portion, raw jackfruit provides 400 kJ (95 kcal) and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (25% DV). It contains moderate levels (10-19% DV) of vitamin C and potassium, with no other nutrients in significant content.
The jackfruit also provides a potential part of the solution for tropical countries facing problems with food security,[12] such as several countries of Africa.[27]
Culinary uses:
The flavor of the ripe fruit is comparable to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana.[10][13] Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit flesh. In Indochina, the two varieties are the "hard" version (crunchier, drier, and less sweet, but fleshier), and the "soft" version (softer, moister, and much sweeter, with a darker gold-color flesh than the hard variety). Unripe jackfruit has a mild flavor and meat-like texture and is used in curry dishes with spices in many cuisines. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining jackfruit flesh is chopped in a labor-intensive process[28] into edible portions and cooked before serving.
The cuisines of many Asian countries use cooked young jackfruit.[13] In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food. The boiled young jackfruit is used in salads or as a vegetable in spicy curries and side dishes, and as fillings for cutlets and chops. It may be used by vegetarians as a substitute for meat such as pulled pork. It may be cooked with coconut milk and eaten alone or with meat, shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India, unripe jackfruit slices are deep-fried to make chips.
South Asia:
In Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry.[29] In India, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: muttomvarikka and sindoor. Muttomvarikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe sindoor fruit is soft.[30]
A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.
Southeast Asia:
In Indonesia and Malaysia, jackfruit is called nangka. The ripe fruit is usually sold separately and consumed on its own, or sliced and mixed with shaved ice as a sweet concoction dessert such as es campur and es teler. The ripe fruit might be dried and fried as kripiknangka, or jackfruit cracker. The seeds are boiled and consumed with salt, as it contains edible starchy content; this is called beton. Young (unripe) jackfruit is made into curry called gulai nangka or stewed called gudeg.
In the Philippines, jackfruit is called langka in Filipino and nangkà[31] in Cebuano. The unripe fruit is usually cooked in coconut milk and eaten with rice; this is called ginataang langka. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying. The seeds are also boiled before being eaten.
Thailand is a major producer of jackfruit, which are often cut, prepared, and canned in a sugary syrup (or frozen in bags or boxes without syrup) and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.
In Vietnam, jackfruit is used to make jackfruit chè, a sweet dessert soup, similar to the Chinese derivative bubur cha cha. The Vietnamese also use jackfruit purée as part of pastry fillings or as a topping on xôi ngọt (a sweet version of sticky rice portions).
Jackfruits are found primarily in the eastern part of Taiwan. The fresh fruit can be eaten directly or preserved as dried fruit, candied fruit, or jam. It is also stir-fried or stewed with other vegetables and meat.
Americas:
In Brazil, three varieties are recognized: jaca-dura, or the "hard" variety, which has a firm flesh, and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kg each; jaca-mole, or the "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits with a softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or the "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.[32]
Africa:
From a tree planted for its shade in gardens, it became an ingredient for local recipes using different fruit segments. The seeds are boiled in water or roasted to remove toxic substances, and then roasted for a variety of desserts. The flesh of the unripe jackfruit is used to make a savory salty dish with smoked pork. The jackfruit arils are used to make jams or fruits in syrup, and can also be eaten raw.
Wood and manufacturing:
The golden yellow timber with good grain is used for building furniture and house construction in India. It is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction,[10] and fish sauce barrels.[33]
The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.
Cultural significance:
The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago.[34] It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.
The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples[35] The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.[36]
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh,[29] and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.[37][38]
Cultivation:
In terms of taking care of the plant, minimal pruning is required; cutting off dead branches from the interior of the tree is only sometimes needed.[10] In addition, twigs bearing fruit must be twisted or cut down to the trunk to induce growth for the next season.[10] Branches should be pruned every three to four years to maintain productivity.[10]
Some trees carry too many mediocre fruits and these are usually removed to allow the others to develop better to maturity.
Stingless bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis are jackfruit pollinators, so play an important role in jackfruit cultivation.[39]
Production and marketing:
Edit
In 2017, India produced 1.4 million tonnes of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.[40]
The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers.[41] The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.
Commercial availability:
Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia.[10][42] It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream.[42] It is also canned and sold as a vegetable for export.
Outside of countries where it is grown, jackfruit can be obtained year-round, both canned or dried. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.
Invasive species:
Edit
In Brazil, the jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-19th century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.
Recently, the species has expanded excessively, and its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals; this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on birds' eggs and nestlings, increases in marmoset or coati population are detrimental for local bird populations.
References:
Under its accepted name Artocarpus heterophyllus (then as heterophylla) this species was described in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 209. (1789) by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, from a specimen collected by botanist Philibert Commerson. Lamarck said of the fruit that it was coarse and difficult to digest. "Larmarck's original description of tejas". Retrieved 2012-11-23. On mange la chair de son fruit, ainsi que les noyaux qu'il contient; mais c'est un aliment grossier et difficile à digérer.
^ "Name - !Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "TPL, treatment of Artocarpus heterophyllus". The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Name – Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. synonyms". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. — The Plant List". Theplantlist.org. 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Tropical Biology Association. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Love, Ken; Paull, Robert E (June 2011). "Jackfruit" (PDF). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
^ Boning, Charles R. (2006). Florida's Best Fruiting Plants:Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. p. 107.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morton, Julia. "Jackfruit". Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ "Jackfruit Fruit Facts". California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. 1996. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ a b c Silver, Mark. "Here's The Scoop On Jackfruit, A Ginormous Fruit To Feed The World". NPR. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ a b c Janick, Jules; Paull, Robert E. The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts. p. 155.
^ The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts, By Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull, pp. 481–485
^ Pradeepkumar, T.; Jyothibhaskar, B. Suma; Satheesan, K. N. (2008). Prof. K. V. Peter, ed. Management of Horticultural Crops. Horticultural Science Series. 11. New Delhi, India: New India Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-89422-49-3. The English name jackfruit is derived from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.
^ Friar Jordanus, 14th century, as translated from the Latin by Henry Yule (1863). Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. Hakluyt Society. p. 13. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, online edition
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Bartleby. 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-30.
^ Stewart, Ralph R. (1984). "How Did They Die?". Taxon. 33 (1): 48–52. doi:10.2307/1222028. JSTOR 1222028.
^ Blench, Roger= (2008). "A history of fruits on the Southeast Asian mainland" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki; Uesugi, Akinori. Occasional Paper 4: Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past. Indus Project. pp. 115–137. ISBN 9784902325331.
^ Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen (2013). "The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: A Work in Progress". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (2): 493–523. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0016.
^ D. KN G Pushpakumara: Floral and Fruit Morphology and Phenology of Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae). In: Sri Lankan J. Agric. Sci. Vol. 43, 2006, pp. 82-106, online (PDF), on researchgate.net, accessed May 24, 2018.
^ N. Haq: Jackfruit Artocarpus heterophyllus. International Center for Underutilized Crops, 2006, ISBN 0-85432-785-1, p. 4-11, 72 f.
^ Artocarpus heterophyllus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
^ Ong, B.T.; Nazimah, S.A.H.; Tan, C.P.; Mirhosseini, H.; Osman, A.; Hashim, D. Mat; Rusul, G. (August 2008). "Analysis of volatile compounds in five jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) cultivars using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS)". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 21 (5): 416–422. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2008.03.002. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
^ Spada, Fernanda Papa; et al. (21 January 2017). "Optimization of Postharvest Conditions To Produce Chocolate Aroma from Jackfruit Seeds". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 65 (6): 1196–1208. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04836. PMID 28110526.
^ Mwandambo, Pascal (11 March 2014). "Venture in rare jackfruit turns farmers' fortunes around". Standard Online. Standard Group Ltd. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ Gene Wu [@@GeneforTexas] (2018-08-21). "Look for this thread later when we do: "You don't know Jackfruit."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ a b Matin, Abdul. "A poor man's fruit: Now a miracle food!". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
^ Ashwini. A (2015). Morpho-Molecular Characterization of Jackfruit. Artocarpus heterophyllus. Kerala Agricultural University.
^ Wolff, John U. (1972). "Nangkà". A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan. 2. p. 698.
^ General information Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Agriculture, State of Bahia
^ "Nam O fish sauce village". Danang Today. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
^ Preedy, Victor R.; Watson, Ronald Ross; Patel, Vinood B., eds. (2011). Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention (1st ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press. p. 678. ISBN 978-0-12-375689-3.
^ "Gỗ mít nài". Nhagoviethung.com. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeast Thailand, J.L. Taylor 1993 p. 218
^ Subrahmanian, N.; Hikosaka, Shu; Samuel, G. John; Thiagarajan, P. (1997). Tamil social history. Institute of Asian Studies. p. 88. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
^ "Kerala's State fruit!". Retrieved 2018-03-17.
^ Kothai, S. (2015). "Environmental Impact on Stingless Bee Propolis (Tetragonula iridipennis) Reared from Two Different Regions of Tamilnadu — A Comparative Study". International Journal of ChemTech Research.
^ Benjamin Elisha Sawe (25 April 2017). "World Leaders In Jackfruit Production". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ Haq, Nazmul (2006). Jackfruit: Artocarpus heterophyllus (PDF). Southampton, UK: Southampton Centre for Underutilised Crops. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-85432-785-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-05.
^ a b Goldenberg, Suzanne (23 April 2014). "Jackfruit heralded as 'miracle' food crop". The Guardian, London, UK. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
norkandirblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/02/makanan-dan-minuma...
Makanan dan Minuman Yang Perlu Dikonsumsi Penghafal Hadits*
Makanan dan Minuman Yang Perlu Dikonsumsi Penghafal Hadits*
Makanan yang Perlu Dikonsumsi
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala menyukai orang-orang yang tidak berpangku tangan dalam menyambut takdir baik. Memang semuanya terjadi atas takdir Allah tetapi Allah memerintahkan manusia untuk berusaha dan menempuh jalan-jalannya. Di antara jalan untuk menguatkan hafalan adalah mengkonsumi beberapa jenis makanan: madu, kismis (anggur kering), habbatus sauda` (jinten hitam), kurma, dan susu.
a) Madu
Imam az-Zuhri (w. 124 H) berkata:
عَلَيْكَ بِالْعَسَلِ فَإِنَّهُ جَيِّدٌ لِلْحِفْظِ
“Minumlah madu karena ia baik untuk menghafal.”
Dikatakan bahwa terapi penyembuhan penyakit itu ada dua, yaitu al-Qur`an dan madu. Seolah-olah penyakit rohani diterapi dengan al-Qur`an sementara penyakit jasmani diterapi dengan madu. Makanan yang secara tegas disebutkan di al-Qur`an untuk penyembuhan adalah madu. Ini menunjukkan kedudukan agung madu sebagai obat karena datang dari pemberitaan wahyu. Allah berfirman:
“Di dalamnya (madu) ada kesembuhan bagi manusia.”
Al-Hafizh Ibnu Katsir (w. 774 H) berkata, “Maksudnya, di dalam madu ada penyembuh bagi manusia dari segala penyakit yang menjangkiti mereka.”
Al-Hafizh Ibnul Jauzi (w. 597 H) berkata, “Dhamir “nya” di sini kembali kepada madu. Ini diriwayatkan oleh al-Aufi dari Ibnu Abbas, dan ini juga pendapat Ibnu Mas’ud. Para ulama berselisih apakah penyembuh di sini untuk penyakit tertentu atau tidak? Ada dua pendapat: pertama bahwa dia umum untuk berbagai penyakit. Ibnu Mas’ud berkata, ‘Madu adalah penyembuh dari segala penyakit.’ Qatadah berkata, ‘Di dalam madu ada penyembuh bagi manusia dari berbagai penyakit.’ (Hal ini berdasarkan hadits) Abu Sa’id al-Khudri radhiyallahu ‘anhu meriwayatkan bahwa dia berkata, ‘Seseorang datang kepada Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam dan berkata, ‘Saudaraku sakit perut.’ Lalu beliau bersabda, ‘Beri dia minum madu.’ Lalu dia memberinya minum madu lalu kembali dan berkata, ‘Aku telah memberinya minum madu tetapi justru bertambah sakitnya.’ Beliau bersabda, ‘Beri dia minum madu.’ Disebutkan dalam hadits sampai ucapan, ‘Lalu dia sembuh pada kali yang ketiga atau yang keempat.’ Lalu Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda, ‘Allah mahabenar dan perut saudaramu telah berdusta.’ Dikeluarkan oleh al-Bukhari dan Muslim. Yang dimaksud “Allah mahabenar” adalah kebenaran ayat ini.
Yang kedua: bahwa ia untuk menyembuhkan penyakit-penyakit yang memang bisa disembuhkan oleh madu, ini pendapat as-Suddi. Tafsir yang benar adalah ia mencakup keumuman. Ibnul Anbari berkata, ‘Pada umumnya madu bisa bereaksi pada segala jenis penyakit dan mencakup sebagai obat-obatan. Jika ada seseorang yang tidak cocok dengannya, sungguh ia telah cocok bagi kebanyakan orang. Ini seperti pepatah Arab:
الْمَاءُ حَيَاةُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ، وَقَدْ نَرَى مَنْ يَقْتُلُهُ الْمَاءُ
‘Air adalah kehidupan segala sesuatu tetapi kita terkadang melihat ada yang dibunuh oleh air.’
Konteks kalimat untuk menunjukkan keumuman.’”
Madu mengandung vitamin, mineral, protein, antiseptik, dan enzim yang bisa meningkatkan daya ingat juga kecerdasan mental seseorang. Dengan kandungan zat galian yang dimilikinya, ia mampu meningkatkan kesehatan fisik dan mental. Zat galian adalah manganese (belerang), klorin, silica, kuprum, potassium (kalium), magnesium, sulfur, karbon, kalsium, fosforus, dan zat besi. Dua sendok teh tiap pagi dan malam adalah cara minum madu yang baik.
Madu mengandung glukosa (gula anggur), fruktosa (gula buah), sukrosa (gula tebu), dan maltosa (gula gandum). Glukosa dan fruktosa menghasilkan suplai glikogen dalam hati. Memakan satu sendok madu asli sebelum tidur akan meningkatkan fungsi otak, karena fruktosa yang terkandung dalam madu menjadi energi cadangan di dalam hati dan bekerja di otak semalaman. Tak heran, madu menjadi rahasia penambah energi bagi atlet zaman Yunani kuno yang menghadapi olimpiade.
Di dalam madu juga terkandung berbagai vitamin yang hampir memenuhi seluruh vitamin yang dibutuhkan oleh manusia, yaitu : A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, D, K, E, Uric Acid, dan asam nikotinat. Bahkan berdasarkan hasil penelitian ahli gizi dan pangan, madu mengandung karbohidrat yang paling tinggi di antara produk ternak lainnya: susu, telur, daging, keju, dan mentega sekitar (82,3% lebih tinggi). Setiap 100 gram madu murni bernilai 294 kalori atau perbandingan 1.000 gram madu murni setara dengan 50 butir telur ayam atau 5,675 liter susu atau 1.680 gram daging. Dari hasil penelitian terbaru ternyata zat-zat atau senyawa yang ada di dalam madu sangat komplek yaitu mencapai 181 jenis.
Di dalam madu juga terdapat kandungan mineral dan garam seperti: besi, sulfur, magnesium, kalsium, kalium, sodium, klorin, tembaga, krom, nikel, lead, silica, mangan, alumunium, aurum, lithium, thin, zink, dan titanium. Sungguh menakjubkan, karena semua mineral tersebut merupakan komposisi tanah yang darinya manusia diciptakan.
Di dalam madu juga terkandung bermacam-macam enzim dan asam yang sangat penting untuk kehidupan dan aktivitas tubuh manusia, misalnya: enzim amilase, enzim katalase, enzim fosfolirase, dan beberapa enzim lainnya.
Adapun macam-macam asam yang terkandung dalam madu adalah: formic acid, lactic acid, atric acid, tartaric acid, oxalid acid asam fosfat, dan asam glukomat.
Di dalam madu juga terkandung hormon-hormon kuat yang berfungsi menggiatkan dan memacu kerja organ-organ tubuh. Karena itu di dalam madu juga terkandung antibiotik yang melindungi manusia dari seluruh penyakit dan membunuh berbagai bakteri dan mikroba.
Telah diketahui pula bahwa di dalam madu terdapat dotorium (hydrogen berat) yang berfungsi sebagai anti kanker.
Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda:
إِنْ كَانَ فِى شَىْءٍ مِنْ أَدْوِيَتِكُمْ -أَوْ يَكُونُ فِى شَىْءٍ مِنْ أَدْوِيَتِكُمْ- خَيْرٌ فَفِى شَرْطَةِ مِحْجَمٍ، أَوْ شَرْبَةِ عَسَلٍ، أَوْ لَذْعَةٍ بِنَارٍ تُوَافِقُ الدَّاءَ، وَمَا أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَكْتَوِيَ
“Jika ada sesuatu dari obat kalian –atau jika ada sesuatu dari obat kalian– yang bisa menyembuhkan, maka ia ada pada bekam, minum madu, atau mengecos dengan besi panas pada luka tetapi saya tidak suka kay (pengobatan dengan besi panas ini).”
Adapun untuk kemampuan otak yang mengagumkan, madu adalah pilihan yang tepat. Madu dapat meningkatkan perkembangan mental anak-anak dalam semua bidang. Laju perjalanan glukosa ke otak yang cepat berguna untuk mempertahankan fungsi normal dari nutrisi penting otak. Asetilkolin merupakan bahan penting untuk meningkatkan memori, dan vitamin untuk meningkatkan kegiatan berpikir dalam otak dengan normal. Mineral penting untuk menjaga fungsi otak yang dapat meningkatkan kemampuan berpikir, kalsium dapat memastikan otak bekerja ulet dan intens, dan germanium dapat meningkatkan kecerdasan.
Madu mendukung keseimbangan asam-basa dalam tubuh yang kaya garam anorganik. Garam anorganik dalam tubuh manusia dapat dikombinasikan dengan bahan-bahan asam, sehingga memberikan kontribusi untuk keseimbangan asam-basa, tubuh dapat menghilangkan kelelahan.
Pakar obat tradisional Prof. Hembing Widjayakusumah berkata, “Aneka zat yang terdapat dalam madu berkhasiat bagi perkembangan otak anak, terutama zat gulanya yang sangat dibutuhkan otak untuk melaksanakan fungsinya secara optimal.”
Fakta ilmiah lain tentang madu telah dibicarakan oleh para ilmuwan yang bertemu pada Konferensi Apikultur Sedunia (World Apiculture Conference) yang diselenggarakan pada tanggal 20-26 September 1993 di Cina. Konferensi tersebut membahas pengobatan dengan menggunakan ramuan yang berasal dari madu. Para ilmuwan Amerika mengatakan bahwa madu, royal jelly, serbuk sari, dan propolis dapat mengobati berbagai penyakit. Seorang dokter Rumania mengatakan bahwa ia mengujikan madu untuk pengobatan pasien katarak, dan 2.002 dari 2.094 pasiennya sembuh total. Para dokter Polandia juga menyatakan dalam konferensi tersebut bahwa resin lebah dapat membantu penyembuhan banyak penyakit seperti wasir, masalah kulit, penyakit ginekologis, dan berbagai penyakit lainnya.
Dari al-Laits bin Sa’ad, dari Ibnu Syihab bahwa dia bercakap-cakap dengan bersulang madu, sebagaimana yang biasa dilakukan oleh kebanyakan orang-orang pada malam hari. Mereka berkata, “Berilah kami minum dan bertuturlah kepada kami.” Dia banyak minum madu dan tidak makan buah-buahan sedikitpun.
Menjauhi buah-buahan secara mutlak perlu ditinjau ulang. Para penduduk surga sebelum dihidangkan daging, terlebih dahulu dihidangkan buah-buahan. Di antara dalil yang digunakan oleh yang berpendapat ini adalah firman Allah:
“Dan Kami berikan mereka buah-buahan dan daging melimpah menurut selera mereka.”
Begitu pula Allah memerintahkan Nabi Yahya untuk memakan buah-buahan pasca sakit berat beberapa lama di perut ikan. Allah berfirman:
“Dan Kami tumbuhkan untuknya sebatang pohon dari jenis labu.”
Dijelaskan oleh sebagian pakar kesehatan bahwa mendahulukan buah-buahan sebelum makan daging membantu memudahkan pencernaan, menjaga kesehatan, dan beberapa manfaat lainnya.
Menurut kaum Yahudi memakan hidangan berkarbohidrat (roti dan nasi) kemudian ditutup dengan buah-buahan menyebabkan ngantuk. Mereka mengetahui kaidah penemuan ini, sehingga sebelum makan menu utama, mereka mendahuluinya dengan buah-buahan.
Penulis berpendapat tidak masalah mengkonsumsi buah-buahan bagi para penghafal hanya saja tidak berlebihan, tetapi yang terbaik adalah menghindarinya ala kadarnya karena terdapat riwayat bahwa Abu Bakar al-Anbari tidak menyentuh buah-buahan sedikitpun saat dijamu oleh Khalifah ar-Radhi Billah, lalu saat beliau sakit keras meminta keluarganya untuk mendatangkan buah-buahan yang lezat lalu memakannya dengan lahap. Ketika ditanya beliau menjawab, “Aku merasa sakit ini akan mengantarkanku kepada kematian, sehingga aku tidak begitu khawatir dengan hafalanku.” Setelah itu beliau wafat. Orang-orang pada zamannya mengatakan, “Abu Bakar al-Anbari adalah satu dari tanda-tanda kebesaran Allah dalam menghafal,” karena saking banyak dan kuat hafalannya. Allahu a’lam.
b) Kismis
Kismis adalah anggur yang telah dikeringkan dan rasanya manis karena kandungan zat gula yang melimpah di dalamnya. Nama lain kismis adalah zabib (Arab), grape seed/raisin (Inggris), dan vitis vinifera (Latin/Saintifik).
Imam az-Zuhri (w. 124 H) berkata:
مَنْ سَرَّهُ أَنْ يَحْفَظَ الْحَدِيثَ فَلْيَأْكُلِ الزَّبِيبَ
“Barangsiapa yang suka menghafal hadits, hendaklah makan kismis.”
Imam al-Hakim menjelaskan, “Karena kismis Hijaz itu panas, manis, lembut, agak kering, dan menghilangkan lendir.”
Dalam riwayat Abu Ja’far ath-Thusi disebutkan bahwa kismis dapat menghilangkan lendir dan menyehatkan jiwa.
Sebanyak 60% berat kismis terdiri dari gula, di mana separuh darinya adalah fruktosa dan separuh lagi adalah glukosa. Kismis sangat tinggi kandungan antioksidannya sebanding dengan buah prune dan aprikot. Terdapat sekitar 54% zat gula dengan berat 90 gram dari sekitar 165 gram berat kismis. Fruktosa dan glukosa berguna untuk meningkatkan, menajamkan, dan menguatkan daya ingatan. Penjelasannya, otak manusia memerlukan zat gula secara cepat dengan kadar yang banyak agar bisa bekerja dengan baik dan kismis dapat menyediakan keperluan itu dalam jumlah yang banyak dan cepat.
Juga, hal ini disebabkan otak yang kekurangan oksigen akan menyebabkan rasa kantuk, lemah ingatan, dan mudah lupa. Kismis mengandung zat besi yang diperlukan untuk mengatur peredaran darah dan menyediakan pasokan oksigen yang akhirnya akan dikirim ke otak.
Prof. Hembing Widjayakusumah berkata, “Jika suplai darah dan oksigen ke otak lancar, maka daya ingat bisa menjadi lebih baik.”
Seorang ibu kebangsaan Malaysia menulis di internet –dengan pengeditan ke bahasa Indonesia–, “Saya telah mempraktekkan kepada anak-anak saya untuk mengkonsumsi kismis setiap hari dan al-hamdulillah walaupun tanpa tuisyen, hasil pemeriksaan amat membanggakan. Di antaranya Nurul Amerah (16 tahun) mencapai UPSR 4A1B dan PMR 8A, Nurul Ezzati (14 tahun) mencapai UPSR 5A, Muhammad Naim (9 tahun) juara satu di kelasnya, dan Nurul Izzyan (6 tahun) sudah bisa membaca, menulis, dan menghitung dengan lancar.”
Selain itu, kismis sendiri mampu menurunkan kadar radikal bebas. Radikal bebas merupakan senyawa yang dapat merusak sel dan membuat tubuh sulit untuk kembali bugar setelah berolahraga. Fakta ini terungkap dalam pertemuan tahunan American College of Nutrition. Para peneliti mempelajari delapan atlet triathlon yang berkompetisi dalam dua minggu yang terpisah. Pada satu perlombaan, mereka diberi makan kismis dan pada perlombaan lainnya tidak. Akhirnya Gene Spiller, Ph.D –pimpinan utama penelitian ini– menyimpulkan, “Kismis secara signifikan mengurangi jumlah kerusakan sel pada tubuh atlet akibat radikal bebas.” Dia menyarankan mengkonsumsi segenggam kismis sebelum berolahraga berat.
c) Habbatus Sauda`
Nama lain habbastus sauda` adalah jinten hitam (Indonesia), fennel flower (Inggris), habat et baraka (Mesir), nigella (Italia), nigelle (Prancis), nidella (Jerman), black cumin/black seed (Amerika), dan black caraway (Eropa).
Habbatus sauda` mampu meningkatkan daya ingat, konsentrasi, dan kewaspadaan. Dengan kandungan asam linoleat (omega 6) dan asam linolenat (omega 3), habbatus sauda` merupakan nutrisi bagi sel otak untuk meningkatkan daya ingat dan kecerdasan. Habbatus sauda juga memperbaiki peredaran darah mikro ke otak dan cocok diberikan kepada anak usia masa pertumbuhan maupun lansia.
Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda:
«فِى الْحَبَّةِ السَّوْدَاءِ شِفَاءٌ مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءٍ إِلاَّ السَّامَ»
“Dalam habbatus sauda` ada penyembuh untuk segala penyakit kecuali kematian.”
d) Kurma
Orang Yahudi dikenal sebagai orang-orang cerdas, dan al-Qur`an memberitahukan bahwa Allah telah melebihkan mereka dengan kecerdasan ini atas makhluk di bumi, terlepas dari kesesatan mereka dan kelicikan mereka bahkan mereka adalah manusia yang paling bertanggung jawab atas kekacauan umat manusia di bumi. Apa di antara langkah mereka dalam mewujudkan kecerdasan ini? Dr. Stephen Carr Leon melakukan penelitian selama 8 tahun untuk meneliti prilaku kecerdasan kaum Yahudi. Hasil penelitian menyebutkan bahwa kaum wanita mereka banyak mengkonsumsi kurma dan susu terutama di masa hamil dan masa menyusui. Namun, liciknya mereka menutup-nutupi hal ini dan merekomendasikan manusia dengan makanan-makanan lain sebagaimana yang dimuat di buku-buku yang beredar.
Sebenarnya Islam telah memberitahukannya kepada kaum muslimin, yaitu saat Allah menjelaskan tentang Maryam si perawan suci yang disuruh Allah untuk menggoyangkan pohon kurma agar berguguran ruthabnya (kurma basah) pasca melahirkan Isa ‘alaihissalam. Allah mengisahkan:
“Dan goyangkanlah pangkal pohon kurma itu ke arahmu agar ia menggugurkan kepadamu ruthab yang masak.”
Jika kita menilik sejarah kaum salaf dahulu, makanan keseharian mereka adalah kurma. Diriwayatkan bahwa di antara makanan keseharian Imam an-Nawawi adalah kurma. As-Sakhawi berkata, “Dia ridha meluruskan tulang sulbinya dan menutupi kebutuhan hidupnya dengan apa yang dikirimkan oleh ayahnya berupa kue Ka’ak kering dan Tin Haurani atau cukup dengan roti. Dia tidak makan kecuali satu jenis lauk berupa madu, kurma, cuka, atau minyak.” Begitu pula telah diriwayatkan bahwa di antara makanan keseharian Imam asy-Syafi’i adalah kurma dan roti kering.
Sungguh telah shahih bahwa Rasulullah makan kurma begitu pula para shahabatnya. Urwah bin Zubair bin Awwam menceritakan bahwa Aisyah radhiyallahu ‘anha berkata kepadanya:
ابْنَ أُخْتِي، إِنْ كُنَّا لَنَنْظُرُ إِلَى الْهِلاَلِ، ثُمَّ الْهِلاَلِ، ثَلاَثَةَ أَهِلَّةٍ فِي شَهْرَيْنِ، وَمَا أُوقِدَتْ فِي أَبْيَاتِ رَسُولِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ نَارٌ. فَقُلْتُ: يَا خَالَةُ، مَا كَانَ يُعِيشُكُمْ؟ قَالَتْ: الأَسْوَدَانِ: التَّمْرُ وَالمَاءُ، إِلَّا أَنَّهُ قَدْ كَانَ لِرَسُولِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ جِيرَانٌ مِنَ الأَنْصَارِ، كَانَتْ لَهُمْ مَنَائِحُ، وَكَانُوا يَمْنَحُونَ رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مِنْ أَلْبَانِهِمْ، فَيَسْقِيْنَا
“Wahai putra saudariku, kami dulu benar-benar melihat bulan sabit, lalu bulan sabit, tiga bulan sabit dalam dua bulan, sementara api tidak mengepul di rumah-rumah Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam.” Aku bertanya, “Wahai bibi, lantas dengan apa kalian makan?” Dia menjawab, “Dengan aswadan yaitu kurma dan air. Hanya saja Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam memiliki tetangga Anshar yang memiliki manihah (kambing/unta betina). Mereka memberi Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam susu perahannya lalu kami meminumnya.”
Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda:
«مَنْ تَصَبَّحَ سَبْعَ تَمَرَاتٍ عَجْوَةً، لَمْ يَضُرَّهُ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمَ سَمٌّ وَلاَ سِحْرٌ»
“Barangsiapa yang memasuki pagi memakan tujuh kurma ajwah, maka pada hari itu racun dan sihir tidak akan membahayakannya.”
Cukuplah menjadi kemuliaan kurma saat Allah menjadikan-Nya sebagai tanda kebesaran-Nya. Allah berfirman:
“Dengan air itu Allah menumbuhkan untuk kalian tanaman, zaitun, kurma, anggur, dan berbagai buah-buahan. Sesungguhnya pada demikian itu terdapat tanda bagi kaum yang berpikir.”
e) Susu
Enam kelas makanan yang diperlukan terdapat dalam susu yaitu air, mineral, lemak, karbohidrat, protein, dan semua jenis vitamin. Susu yang terbaik untuk mempertajam otak dan pikiran adalah susu kambing di samping susu lembu yang segar. Susu yang pekat/cair lebih baik khasiatnya dibandingkan susu tepung. Susu segar juga bisa menguatkan tulang belakang, meningkatkan kecerdasan, memperbaiki penglihatan, dan mencegah/menghindari kelupaan. Aturan minum susu yang baik adalah lebih kurang segelas pada waktu pagi dan malam. Sungguh Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam minum susu kambing sebagaimana yang terdapat pada hadits-hadits yang shahih.
Cukuplah menjadi kemuliaan susu saat Allah menjadikannya sebagai salah satu dari empat minuman utama penduduk surga. Allah berfirman:
“Dan sungai-sungai susu yang tidak berubah rasanya.”
Imam Ibnu Syihab az-Zuhri telah mempraktekkannya dengan mengkonsumsi makanan-makanan tersebut dan hasilnya beliau menjadi imam dalam menghafal, setelah taufiq dari Allah. Disebutkan bahwa beliau menghafal al-Qur`an hanya dalam 2 bulan 20 hari.
Imam adz-Dzahabi berkata, “Bukti (kekuatan) hafalan az-Zuhri adalah bahwa dia hafal al-Qur`an dalam 80 malam, sebagaimana yang diriwayatkan oleh keponakannya, Muhammad bin Abdullah.”
Imam az-Zuhri berkata:
مَا اسْتَعَدْتُ حَدِيثًا قَطُّ، وَلا شَكَكْتُ فِي حَدِيثٍ إِلا حَدِيثًا وَاحِدًا فَسَأَلْتُ صَاحِبِي فَإِذَا هُوَ كَمَا حَفِظْتُ
“Aku tidak pernah mempersiapkan hadits sama sekali. Aku tidak pernah ragu dalam suatu hadits kecuali satu hadits saja lalu aku tanyakan kepada temanku, ternyata hadits tersebut persis seperti yang aku hafal.”
Abu Bakar al-Hudzali berkata, “Aku duduk di majlis al-Hasan dan Ibnu Sirin, dan aku tidak melihat seorang pun yang lebih mulia darinya,” yakni az-Zuhri.
Al-Hasan al-Bashri dan Muhammad bin Sirin masyhur dikenal sebagai ulama besar Bashrah dan mereka lebih tua dan lebih tinggi tingkatan thabaqahnya daripada az-Zuhri. Hanya saja ilmu adalah anugerah dan anugerah Allah diberikan-Nya kepada siapa saja yang Dia kehendaki dan Allah pemilik karunia yang besar.
Dari Ja’far bin Rabi’ah bahwa dia berkata, “Aku berkata kepada Irak bin Malik, ‘Orang yang paling faqih dari penduduk Madinah dan yang paling tahu tentang sesuatu yang telah berlalu dari urusan manusia adalah Sa’id bin al-Musayyib. Adapun yang paling melimpah haditsnya di antara mereka adalah Urwah bin az-Zubair. Tidaklah engkau berkehendak untuk memancarkan lautan dari Ubaidullah bin Abdullah melainkan engkau pasti bisa memancarkannya.” Irak berkata, “Namun yang paling berilmu di antara mereka semua menurutku adalah Ibnu Syihab, karena dia mengumpulkan ilmu mereka semua pada ilmunya.”
b. Makanan yang Perlu Dihindari
a) Apel
Adapun makanan yang perlu dihindari adalah buah apel. Imam az-Zuhri berkata:
التُّفَّاحُ يُورِثُ النِّسْيَانَ
“Buah apel mewarisi sifat lupa.”
b) Rokok
Rokok memang bukan makanan tetapi di masa sekarang rokok seperti makanan pokok bagi sebagian orang. Bahkan sebagian mereka tidak ridha hanya makan 3 batang sehari tetapi 3 bungkus!!! Sehingga bibir mereka hitam legam berbau menyengat seperti aspal yang diinjak-injak kendaraan di jalan raya!!!
Hasil penelitian Universitas Israel menyebutkan bahwa nikotin dapat merusak sel utama otak dan akan melekat pada gen. Artinya keturunan perokok akan mewarisi generasi yang cacak otak (bodoh). Allahu a’lam.[]
* Dinukil dari Mungkinkah Aku Hafal Satu Juta Hadits Seperti Imam Ahmad? hal. 88-103 cet Pustaka Syabab karya Abu Zur’ah Ath-Thaybi. Untuk takhrij dan referensi silahkan merujuk ke buku aslinya. Marketing Pustaka Syabab 085730 219 208.
Nor Kandir
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Jackfruit, or Artocarpus heterophyllus, is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, capable of reaching 100 pounds. And it grows on the branches — and the trunks — of trees that can reach 30, 40, 50 feet. Growing to the hefty weight of 80 pounds. It is also the national fruit of Bangladesh and may have been cultivated in India as early as 6,000 years ago. Related to the breadfruit and marang, its buttery flesh is thick with fiber and often described as starchy in flavor.
Many say it tastes like a cross between an apple, pineapple, and banana.One popular way to prepare this fruit is to deep fry it into crunchy jackfruit chips.
Jackfruits are also a nutritional bonanza: high in protein, potassium and vitamin B. And, with about 95 calories in about a half a cup, they aren't quite as high-carb or caloric as staples like rice or corn.
The jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree,[7] is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae) native to southwest India.[8][9][10]
The jackfruit tree is well-suited to tropicallowlands, and its fruit is the largest tree-borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 lb) in weight, 90 cm (35 in) in length, and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter.[10][11] A mature jackfruit tree can produce about 100 to 200 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.[10][12]
Jackfruit is commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cuisines.[13][14] The ripe and unripe fruit and seeds are consumed. The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated throughout tropical regions of the world. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Etymology and history:
The word "jackfruit" comes from Portuguese jaca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalamlanguage term chakka (Malayalam chakka pazham).[12][15] When the Portuguese arrived in India at Kozhikode (Calicut) on the Malabar Coast(Kerala) in 1498, the Malayalam name chakka was recorded by Hendrik van Rheede (1678–1703) in the Hortus Malabaricus, vol. iii in Latin. Henry Yuletranslated the book in Jordanus Catalani's (f. 1321–1330) Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East.[16]
The common English name "jackfruit" was used by physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta in his 1563 book Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India.[17][18] Centuries later, botanist Ralph Randles Stewart suggested it was named after William Jack (1795–1822), a Scottish botanist who worked for the East India Company in Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya.[19]
The jackfruit was domesticated independently in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as evidenced by the fact that the Southeast Asian names for the fruit are not derived from the Sanskrit roots. It was probably first domesticated by Austronesians in Java or the Malay Peninsula. The word for jackfruit in Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian is reconstructed as *laŋkaq. Modern cognates include Javanese, Malay, Balinese, and Cebuano nangka; Tagalog, Pangasinan, Bikol and Ilocano langka; Chamorro lanka or nanka; Kelabit nakan; Wolio nangke; Ibaloi dangka; and Lun Dayeh laka. Note, however, that the fruit was only recently introduced to Guam via Filipino settlers when both were part of the Spanish Empire.[20][21]
Botanical description:
Shape, trunk and leaves:
Artocarpus heterophyllus grows as an evergreen tree that has a relatively short trunk with a dense treetop. It easily reaches heights of 10 to 20 meters and trunk diameters of 30 to 80 centimeters. It sometimes forms buttress roots. The bark of the jackfruit tree is reddish-brown and smooth. In the event of injury to the bark, a milky juice is released.
The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged. They are gummy and thick and are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The petiole is 1 to 3 inches long. The leathery leaf blade is 7 to 15 inches long, and 3 to 7 inches wide and is oblong to ovate in shape.
In young trees, the leaf edges are irregularly lobed or split. On older trees, the leaves are rounded and dark green, with a smooth leaf margin. The leaf blade has a prominent main nerve and starting on each side six to eight lateral nerves. The stipules are egg-shaped at a length of 1.5 to 8 centimeters.
Flowers and fruit:
The inflorescences are formed on the trunk, branches or twigs (caulifloria). Jackfruit trees are monoecious, that is there are both female and male flowers on a tree. The inflorescences are pedunculated, cylindrical to ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, to about 10-12 centimeters long and 5-7 centimeters wide.
Inflorescences are initially completely enveloped in egg-shaped cover sheets which rapidly slough off.
The flowers are very small, there are several thousand flowers in an inflorescence, which sit on a fleshy rachis.[22] The male flowers are greenish, some flowers are sterile. The male flowers are hairy and the perianth ends with two 1 to 1.5 millimeters membrane. The individual and prominent stamens are straight with yellow, roundish anthers. After the pollen distribution, the stamens become ash-gray and fall off after a few days. Later all the male inflorescences also fall off. The greenish female flowers, with hairy and tubular perianth, have a fleshy flower-like base. The female flowers contain an ovary with a broad, capitate or rarely bilobed scar. The blooming time ranges from December until February or March.
The ellipsoidal to roundish fruit is a multiple fruit formed from the fusion of the ovaries of multiple flowers. The fruits grow on a long and thick stem on the trunk. They vary in size and ripen from an initially yellowish-greenish to yellow, and then at maturity to yellowish-brown. They possess a hard, gummy shell with small pimples surrounded with hard, hexagonal tubercles. The very large and variously shaped fruit have a length of 30 to 100 centimeters and a diameter of 15 to 50 centimeters and can weigh 10-25 kilograms or more.
The fruits consist of a fibrous, whitish core (rachis) about 5-10 centimeters thick. Radiating from this are many 10 centimeter long individual fruits. They are elliptical to egg-shaped, light brownish achenes with a length of about 3 centimeters and a diameter of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
There may be about 100-500 seeds per fruit. The seed coat consists of a thin, waxy, parchment-like and easily removable testa (husk) and a brownish, membranous tegmen. The cotyledons are usually unequal in size, the endosperm is minimally present.[23]
The fruit matures during the rainy season from July to August. The bean-shaped achenes of the jackfruit are coated with a firm yellowish aril (seed coat, flesh), which has an intense sweet taste at maturity of the fruit. [3] The pulp is enveloped by many narrow strands of fiber (undeveloped perianth), which run between the hard shell and the core of the fruit and are firmly attached to it. When pruned, the inner part (core) secretes a very sticky, milky liquid, which can hardly be removed from the skin, even with soap and water. To clean the hands after "unwinding" the pulp an oil or other solvent is used. For example, street vendors in Tanzania, who sell the fruit in small segments, provide small bowls of kerosene for their customers to cleanse their sticky fingers.[citation needed]
An average fruit consists of 27% edible seed coat, 15% edible seeds, 20% white pulp (undeveloped perianth, rags) and bark and 10% core.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 56.[24]
As food:
Ripe jackfruit is naturally sweet, with subtle flavoring.[10] It can be used to make a variety of dishes, including custards, cakes, or mixed with shaved ice as es teler in Indonesia or halo-halo in the Philippines. For the traditional breakfast dish in southern India, idlis, the fruit is used with rice as an ingredient and jackfruit leaves are used as a wrapping for steaming. Jackfruit dosas can be prepared by grinding jackfruit flesh along with the batter. Ripe jackfruit arils are sometimes seeded, fried, or freeze-dried and sold as jackfruit chips.
The seeds from ripe fruits are edible, and are said to have a milky, sweet taste often compared to Brazil nuts. They may be boiled, baked, or roasted. When roasted, the flavor of the seeds is comparable to chestnuts. Seeds are used as snacks (either by boiling or fire-roasting) or to make desserts. In Java, the seeds are commonly cooked and seasoned with salt as a snack. They are quite commonly used in curry in India in the form of a traditional lentil and vegetable mix curry.
Aroma:
Jackfruit has a distinctive sweet and fruity aroma. In a study of flavour volatiles in five jackfruit cultivars, the main volatile compounds detected were ethyl isovalerate, propyl isovalerate, butyl isovalerate, isobutyl isovalerate, 3-methylbutyl acetate, 1-butanol, and 2-methylbutan-1-ol.[25]
A fully ripe and unopened jackfruit is known to "emit a strong aroma", with the inside of the fruit described as smelling of pineapple and banana.[10] After roasting, the seeds may be used as a commercial alternative to chocolate aroma.[26]
Nutritional value:
The flesh of the jackfruit is starchy and fibrous and is a source of dietary fiber. The pulp is composed of 74% water, 23% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and 1% fat. In a 100-g portion, raw jackfruit provides 400 kJ (95 kcal) and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (25% DV). It contains moderate levels (10-19% DV) of vitamin C and potassium, with no other nutrients in significant content.
The jackfruit also provides a potential part of the solution for tropical countries facing problems with food security,[12] such as several countries of Africa.[27]
Culinary uses:
The flavor of the ripe fruit is comparable to a combination of apple, pineapple, mango, and banana.[10][13] Varieties are distinguished according to characteristics of the fruit flesh. In Indochina, the two varieties are the "hard" version (crunchier, drier, and less sweet, but fleshier), and the "soft" version (softer, moister, and much sweeter, with a darker gold-color flesh than the hard variety). Unripe jackfruit has a mild flavor and meat-like texture and is used in curry dishes with spices in many cuisines. The skin of unripe jackfruit must be peeled first, then the remaining jackfruit flesh is chopped in a labor-intensive process[28] into edible portions and cooked before serving.
The cuisines of many Asian countries use cooked young jackfruit.[13] In many cultures, jackfruit is boiled and used in curries as a staple food. The boiled young jackfruit is used in salads or as a vegetable in spicy curries and side dishes, and as fillings for cutlets and chops. It may be used by vegetarians as a substitute for meat such as pulled pork. It may be cooked with coconut milk and eaten alone or with meat, shrimp or smoked pork. In southern India, unripe jackfruit slices are deep-fried to make chips.
South Asia:
In Bangladesh, the fruit is consumed on its own. The unripe fruit is used in curry, and the seed is often dried and preserved to be later used in curry.[29] In India, two varieties of jackfruit predominate: muttomvarikka and sindoor. Muttomvarikka has a slightly hard inner flesh when ripe, while the inner flesh of the ripe sindoor fruit is soft.[30]
A sweet preparation called chakkavaratti (jackfruit jam) is made by seasoning pieces of muttomvarikka fruit flesh in jaggery, which can be preserved and used for many months. The fruits are either eaten alone or as a side to rice. The juice is extracted and either drunk straight or as a side. The juice is sometimes condensed and eaten as candies. The seeds are either boiled or roasted and eaten with salt and hot chilies. They are also used to make spicy side dishes with rice. Jackfruit may be ground and made into a paste, then spread over a mat and allowed to dry in the sun to create a natural chewy candy.
Southeast Asia:
In Indonesia and Malaysia, jackfruit is called nangka. The ripe fruit is usually sold separately and consumed on its own, or sliced and mixed with shaved ice as a sweet concoction dessert such as es campur and es teler. The ripe fruit might be dried and fried as kripiknangka, or jackfruit cracker. The seeds are boiled and consumed with salt, as it contains edible starchy content; this is called beton. Young (unripe) jackfruit is made into curry called gulai nangka or stewed called gudeg.
In the Philippines, jackfruit is called langka in Filipino and nangkà[31] in Cebuano. The unripe fruit is usually cooked in coconut milk and eaten with rice; this is called ginataang langka. The ripe fruit is often an ingredient in local desserts such as halo-halo and the Filipino turon. The ripe fruit, besides also being eaten raw as it is, is also preserved by storing in syrup or by drying. The seeds are also boiled before being eaten.
Thailand is a major producer of jackfruit, which are often cut, prepared, and canned in a sugary syrup (or frozen in bags or boxes without syrup) and exported overseas, frequently to North America and Europe.
In Vietnam, jackfruit is used to make jackfruit chè, a sweet dessert soup, similar to the Chinese derivative bubur cha cha. The Vietnamese also use jackfruit purée as part of pastry fillings or as a topping on xôi ngọt (a sweet version of sticky rice portions).
Jackfruits are found primarily in the eastern part of Taiwan. The fresh fruit can be eaten directly or preserved as dried fruit, candied fruit, or jam. It is also stir-fried or stewed with other vegetables and meat.
Americas:
In Brazil, three varieties are recognized: jaca-dura, or the "hard" variety, which has a firm flesh, and the largest fruits that can weigh between 15 and 40 kg each; jaca-mole, or the "soft" variety, which bears smaller fruits with a softer and sweeter flesh; and jaca-manteiga, or the "butter" variety, which bears sweet fruits whose flesh has a consistency intermediate between the "hard" and "soft" varieties.[32]
Africa:
From a tree planted for its shade in gardens, it became an ingredient for local recipes using different fruit segments. The seeds are boiled in water or roasted to remove toxic substances, and then roasted for a variety of desserts. The flesh of the unripe jackfruit is used to make a savory salty dish with smoked pork. The jackfruit arils are used to make jams or fruits in syrup, and can also be eaten raw.
Wood and manufacturing:
The golden yellow timber with good grain is used for building furniture and house construction in India. It is termite-proof and is superior to teak for building furniture. The wood of the jackfruit tree is important in Sri Lanka and is exported to Europe. Jackfruit wood is widely used in the manufacture of furniture, doors and windows, in roof construction,[10] and fish sauce barrels.[33]
The wood of the tree is used for the production of musical instruments. In Indonesia, hardwood from the trunk is carved out to form the barrels of drums used in the gamelan, and in the Philippines, its soft wood is made into the body of the kutiyapi, a type of boat lute. It is also used to make the body of the Indian string instrument veena and the drums mridangam, thimila, and kanjira.
Cultural significance:
The jackfruit has played a significant role in Indian agriculture for centuries. Archeological findings in India have revealed that jackfruit was cultivated in India 3000 to 6000 years ago.[34] It has also been widely cultivated in Southeast Asia.
The ornate wooden plank called avani palaka, made of the wood of the jackfruit tree, is used as the priest's seat during Hindu ceremonies in Kerala. In Vietnam, jackfruit wood is prized for the making of Buddhist statues in temples[35] The heartwood is used by Buddhist forest monastics in Southeast Asia as a dye, giving the robes of the monks in those traditions their distinctive light-brown color.[36]
Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh,[29] and the state fruit of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.[37][38]
Cultivation:
In terms of taking care of the plant, minimal pruning is required; cutting off dead branches from the interior of the tree is only sometimes needed.[10] In addition, twigs bearing fruit must be twisted or cut down to the trunk to induce growth for the next season.[10] Branches should be pruned every three to four years to maintain productivity.[10]
Some trees carry too many mediocre fruits and these are usually removed to allow the others to develop better to maturity.
Stingless bees such as Tetragonula iridipennis are jackfruit pollinators, so play an important role in jackfruit cultivation.[39]
Production and marketing:
In 2017, India produced 1.4 million tonnes of jackfruit, followed by Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia.[40]
The marketing of jackfruit involves three groups: producers, traders, and middlemen, including wholesalers and retailers.[41] The marketing channels are rather complex. Large farms sell immature fruit to wholesalers, which helps cash flow and reduces risk, whereas medium-sized farms sell the fruit directly to local markets or retailers.
Commercial availability:
Outside of its countries of origin, fresh jackfruit can be found at food markets throughout Southeast Asia.[10][42] It is also extensively cultivated in the Brazilian coastal region, where it is sold in local markets. It is available canned in sugary syrup, or frozen, already prepared and cut. Jackfruit industries are established in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, where the fruit is processed into products such as flour, noodles, papad, and ice cream.[42] It is also canned and sold as a vegetable for export.
Outside of countries where it is grown, jackfruit can be obtained year-round, both canned or dried. Dried jackfruit chips are produced by various manufacturers.
Invasive species:
Edit
In Brazil, the jackfruit can become an invasive species as in Brazil's Tijuca Forest National Park in Rio de Janeiro. The Tijuca is mostly an artificial secondary forest, whose planting began during the mid-19th century; jackfruit trees have been a part of the park's flora since it was founded.
Recently, the species has expanded excessively, and its fruits, which naturally fall to the ground and open, are eagerly eaten by small mammals, such as the common marmoset and coati. The seeds are dispersed by these animals; this allows the jackfruit to compete for space with native tree species. Additionally the supply of jackfruit as a ready source of food has allowed the marmoset and coati populations to expand. Since both prey opportunistically on birds' eggs and nestlings, increases in marmoset or coati population are detrimental for local bird populations.
References:
Under its accepted name Artocarpus heterophyllus (then as heterophylla) this species was described in Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique 3: 209. (1789) by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, from a specimen collected by botanist Philibert Commerson. Lamarck said of the fruit that it was coarse and difficult to digest. "Larmarck's original description of tejas". Retrieved 2012-11-23. On mange la chair de son fruit, ainsi que les noyaux qu'il contient; mais c'est un aliment grossier et difficile à digérer.
^ "Name - !Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "TPL, treatment of Artocarpus heterophyllus". The Plant List; Version 1. (published on the internet). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Name – Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. synonyms". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. — The Plant List". Theplantlist.org. 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ "Artocarpus heterophyllus". Tropical Biology Association. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Love, Ken; Paull, Robert E (June 2011). "Jackfruit" (PDF). College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
^ Boning, Charles R. (2006). Florida's Best Fruiting Plants:Native and Exotic Trees, Shrubs, and Vines. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. p. 107.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morton, Julia. "Jackfruit". Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ "Jackfruit Fruit Facts". California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. 1996. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ a b c Silver, Mark. "Here's The Scoop On Jackfruit, A Ginormous Fruit To Feed The World". NPR. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
^ a b c Janick, Jules; Paull, Robert E. The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts. p. 155.
^ The encyclopedia of fruit & nuts, By Jules Janick, Robert E. Paull, pp. 481–485
^ Pradeepkumar, T.; Jyothibhaskar, B. Suma; Satheesan, K. N. (2008). Prof. K. V. Peter, ed. Management of Horticultural Crops. Horticultural Science Series. 11. New Delhi, India: New India Publishing. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-89422-49-3. The English name jackfruit is derived from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.
^ Friar Jordanus, 14th century, as translated from the Latin by Henry Yule (1863). Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East. Hakluyt Society. p. 13. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
^ Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, online edition
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Bartleby. 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-11-30.
^ Stewart, Ralph R. (1984). "How Did They Die?". Taxon. 33 (1): 48–52. doi:10.2307/1222028. JSTOR 1222028.
^ Blench, Roger= (2008). "A history of fruits on the Southeast Asian mainland" (PDF). In Osada, Toshiki; Uesugi, Akinori. Occasional Paper 4: Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past. Indus Project. pp. 115–137. ISBN 9784902325331.
^ Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen (2013). "The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: A Work in Progress". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (2): 493–523. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0016.
^ D. KN G Pushpakumara: Floral and Fruit Morphology and Phenology of Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae). In: Sri Lankan J. Agric. Sci. Vol. 43, 2006, pp. 82-106, online (PDF), on researchgate.net, accessed May 24, 2018.
^ N. Haq: Jackfruit Artocarpus heterophyllus. International Center for Underutilized Crops, 2006, ISBN 0-85432-785-1, p. 4-11, 72 f.
^ Artocarpus heterophyllus at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
^ Ong, B.T.; Nazimah, S.A.H.; Tan, C.P.; Mirhosseini, H.; Osman, A.; Hashim, D. Mat; Rusul, G. (August 2008). "Analysis of volatile compounds in five jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) cultivars using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS)". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 21 (5): 416–422. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2008.03.002. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
^ Spada, Fernanda Papa; et al. (21 January 2017). "Optimization of Postharvest Conditions To Produce Chocolate Aroma from Jackfruit Seeds". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 65 (6): 1196–1208. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.6b04836. PMID 28110526.
^ Mwandambo, Pascal (11 March 2014). "Venture in rare jackfruit turns farmers' fortunes around". Standard Online. Standard Group Ltd. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ Gene Wu [@@GeneforTexas] (2018-08-21). "Look for this thread later when we do: "You don't know Jackfruit."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ a b Matin, Abdul. "A poor man's fruit: Now a miracle food!". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
^ Ashwini. A (2015). Morpho-Molecular Characterization of Jackfruit. Artocarpus heterophyllus. Kerala Agricultural University.
^ Wolff, John U. (1972). "Nangkà". A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan. 2. p. 698.
^ General information Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Agriculture, State of Bahia
^ "Nam O fish sauce village". Danang Today. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2015-09-22.
^ Preedy, Victor R.; Watson, Ronald Ross; Patel, Vinood B., eds. (2011). Nuts and Seeds in Health and Disease Prevention (1st ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press. p. 678. ISBN 978-0-12-375689-3.
^ "Gỗ mít nài". Nhagoviethung.com. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
^ Forest Monks and the Nation-state: An Anthropological and Historical Study in Northeast Thailand, J.L. Taylor 1993 p. 218
^ Subrahmanian, N.; Hikosaka, Shu; Samuel, G. John; Thiagarajan, P. (1997). Tamil social history. Institute of Asian Studies. p. 88. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
^ "Kerala's State fruit!". Retrieved 2018-03-17.
^ Kothai, S. (2015). "Environmental Impact on Stingless Bee Propolis (Tetragonula iridipennis) Reared from Two Different Regions of Tamilnadu — A Comparative Study". International Journal of ChemTech Research.
^ Benjamin Elisha Sawe (25 April 2017). "World Leaders In Jackfruit Production". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
^ Haq, Nazmul (2006). Jackfruit: Artocarpus heterophyllus (PDF). Southampton, UK: Southampton Centre for Underutilised Crops. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-85432-785-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-05.
^ a b Goldenberg, Suzanne (23 April 2014). "Jackfruit heralded as 'miracle' food crop". The Guardian, London, UK. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their role in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are presently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while some species – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary.
Bees are found on every continent except for Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than 2 millimetres long, to Megachile pluto, the largest species of leafcutter bee, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres.
Bees feed on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for their larvae. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies.
Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980.
Human beekeeping or apiculture has been practised for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature from ancient times to the present day, although primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere where beekeeping is far more common.
EVOLUTION
The ancestors of bees were wasps in the family Crabronidae, which were predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects which were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae. This same evolutionary scenario may have occurred within the vespoid wasps, where the pollen wasps evolved from predatory ancestors. Until recently, the oldest non-compression bee fossil had been found in New Jersey amber, Cretotrigona prisca of Cretaceous age, a corbiculate bee. A bee fossil from the early Cretaceous (~100 mya), Melittosphex burmensis, is considered "an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea sister to the modern bees". Derived features of its morphology (apomorphies) place it clearly within the bees, but it retains two unmodified ancestral traits (plesiomorphies) of the legs (two mid-tibial spurs, and a slender hind basitarsus), showing its transitional status. By the Eocene (~45 mya) there was already considerable diversity among eusocial bee lineages.
The highly eusocial corbiculate Apidae appeared roughly 87 Mya, and the Allodapini (within the Apidae) around 53 Mya. The Colletidae appear as fossils only from the late Oligocene (~25 Mya) to early Miocene. The Melittidae are known from Palaeomacropis eocenicus in the Early Eocene. The Megachilidae are known from trace fossils (characteristic leaf cuttings) from the Middle Eocene. The Andrenidae are known from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, around 34 Mya, of the Florissant shale. The Halictidae first appear in the Early Eocene with species found in amber. The Stenotritidae are known from fossil brood cells of Pleistocene age.
COEVOLUTION
The earliest animal-pollinated flowers were shallow, cup-shaped blooms pollinated by insects such as beetles, so the syndrome of insect pollination was well established before the first appearance of bees. The novelty is that bees are specialized as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that specifically enhance pollination, and are the most efficient pollinating insects. In a process of coevolution, flowers developed floral rewards such as nectar and longer tubes, and bees developed longer tongues to extract the nectar. Bees also developed structures known as scopal hairs and pollen baskets to collect and carry pollen. The location and type differ among and between groups of bees. Most species have scopal hairs on their hind legs or on the underside of their abdomens. Some species in the family Apidae have pollen baskets on their hind legs, while very few lack these and instead collect pollen in their crops. The appearance of these structures drove the adaptive radiation of the angiosperms, and, in turn, bees themselves. Bees coevolved not only with flowers but it is believed that some species coevolved with mites. Some provide tufts of hairs called acarinaria that appear to provide lodgings for mites; in return, it is believed that mites eat fungi that attack pollen, so the relationship in this case may be mutualistc.
CHARACTERISTICS
Bees differ from closely related groups such as wasps by having branched or plume-like setae (hairs), combs on the forelimbs for cleaning their antennae, small anatomical differences in limb structure, and the venation of the hind wings; and in females, by having the seventh dorsal abdominal plate divided into two half-plates.
Bees have the following characteristics:
A pair of large compound eyes which cover much of the surface of the head. Between and above these are three small simple eyes (ocelli) which provide information on light intensity.
The antennae usually have 13 segments in males and 12 in females, and are geniculate, having an elbow joint part way along. They house large numbers of sense organs that can detect touch (mechanoreceptors), smell and taste; and small, hairlike mechanoreceptors that can detect air movement so as to "hear" sounds.
The mouthparts are adapted for both chewing and sucking by having both a pair of mandibles and a long proboscis for sucking up nectar.
The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of robust legs, and a pair of membranous wings on the hind two segments. The front legs of corbiculate bees bear combs for cleaning the antennae, and in many species the hind legs bear pollen baskets, flattened sections with incurving hairs to secure the collected pollen. The wings are synchronised in flight, and the somewhat smaller hind wings connect to the forewings by a row of hooks along their margin which connect to a groove in the forewing.
The abdomen has nine segments, the hindermost three being modified into the sting.
The largest species of bee is thought to be Wallace's giant bee Megachile pluto, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres. The smallest species may be dwarf stingless bees in the tribe Meliponini whose workers are less than 2 millimetres in length.
SOCIALITY
HAPLODIPLOID BREEDING SYSTEM
According to inclusive fitness theory, organisms can gain fitness not just through increasing their own reproductive output, but also that of close relatives. In evolutionary terms, individuals should help relatives when Cost < Relatedness * Benefit. The requirements for eusociality are more easily fulfilled by haplodiploid species such as bees because of their unusual relatedness structure.
In haplodiploid species, females develop from fertilized eggs and males from unfertilized eggs. Because a male is haploid (has only one copy of each gene), his daughters (which are diploid, with two copies of each gene) share 100% of his genes and 50% of their mother's. Therefore, they share 75% of their genes with each other. This mechanism of sex determination gives rise to what W. D. Hamilton termed "supersisters", more closely related to their sisters than they would be to their own offspring. Workers often do not reproduce, but they can pass on more of their genes by helping to raise their sisters (as queens) than they would by having their own offspring (each of which would only have 50% of their genes), assuming they would produce similar numbers. This unusual situation has been proposed as an explanation of the multiple (at least 9) evolutions of eusociality within Hymenoptera.
Haplodiploidy is neither necessary nor sufficient for eusociality. Some eusocial species such as termites are not haplodiploid. Conversely, all bees are haplodiploid but not all are eusocial, and among eusocial species many queens mate with multiple males, creating half-sisters that share only 25% of each-other's genes. But, monogamy (queens mating singly) is the ancestral state for all eusocial species so far investigated, so it is likely that haplodiploidy contributed to the evolution of eusociality in bees.
EUSOCIALIT
Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Eusociality appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterised by cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.True honey bees (genus Apis, of which seven species are currently recognized) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known insects. Their colonies are established by swarms, consisting of a queen and several hundred workers. There are 29 subspecies of one of these species, Apis mellifera, native to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Africanized bees are a hybrid strain of A. mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.[Stingless bees are also highly eusocial. They practise mass provisioning, with complex nest architecture and perennial colonies also established via swarming.
Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial Vespidae such as hornets in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming. Bumblebee colonies typically have from 50 to 200 bees at peak population, which occurs in mid to late summer. Nest architecture is simple, limited by the size of the pre-existing nest cavity, and colonies rarely last more than a year. In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria.
There are many more species of primitively eusocial than highly eusocial bees, but they have been studied less often. Most are in the family Halictidae, or "sweat bees". Colonies are typically small, with a dozen or fewer workers, on average. Queens and workers differ only in size, if at all. Most species have a single season colony cycle, even in the tropics, and only mated females hibernate. A few species have long active seasons and attain colony sizes in the hundreds, such as Halictus hesperus. Some species are eusocial in parts of their range and solitary in others, or have a mix of eusocial and solitary nests in the same population. The orchid bees (Apidae) include some primitively eusocial species with similar biology. Some allodapine bees (Apidae) form primitively eusocial colonies, with progressive provisioning: a larva's food is supplied gradually as it develops, as is the case in honey bees and some bumblebees.
SOLITARY AND COMMUNAL BEES
Most other bees, including familiar insects such as carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax. Bees collect pollen to feed their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as pollen wasps have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee scavenge from carcases to feed their offspring. Solitary bees are important pollinators; they gather pollen to provision their nests with food for their brood. Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency. Some solitary bees have advanced types of pollen-carrying structures on their bodies. Very few species of solitary bee are being cultured for commercial pollination. Most of these species belong to a distinct set of genera which are commonly known by their nesting behavior or preferences, namely: carpenter bees, sweat bees, mason bees, plasterer bees, squash bees, dwarf carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, alkali bees and digger bees.Most solitary bees nest in the ground in a variety of soil textures and conditions while others create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, holes in wood. The female typically creates a compartment (a "cell") with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. A nest may consist of numerous cells. When the nest is in wood, usually the last (those closer to the entrance) contain eggs that will become males. The adult does not provide care for the brood once the egg is laid, and usually dies after making one or more nests. The males typically emerge first and are ready for mating when the females emerge. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting (only in self-defense, if ever). While solitary, females each make individual nests. Some species, such as the European mason bee Hoplitis anthocopoides, and the Dawson's Burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, are gregarious, preferring to make nests near others of the same species, and giving the appearance of being social. Large groups of solitary bee nests are called aggregations, to distinguish them from colonies. In some species, multiple females share a common nest, but each makes and provisions her own cells independently. This type of group is called "communal" and is not uncommon. The primary advantage appears to be that a nest entrance is easier to defend from predators and parasites when multiple females use that same entrance regularly
BIOLOGY
LIFE CYCLE
The life cycle of a bee, be it a solitary or social species, involves the laying of an egg, the development through several moults of a legless larva, a pupation stage during which the insect undergoes complete metamorphosis, followed by the emergence of a winged adult. Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate. The sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilised; after mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilised eggs producing female offspring and unfertilised eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no diapause stage.
The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.
In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and spiracles in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into a winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the exuviae and breaks out of the cell.
FLIGHT
Antoine Magnan's 1934 book Le vol des insectes, says that he and André Sainte-Laguë had applied the equations of air resistance to insects and found that their flight could not be explained by fixed-wing calculations, but that "One shouldn't be surprised that the results of the calculations don't square with reality". This has led to a common misconception that bees "violate aerodynamic theory". In fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used by helicopters. In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift. High-speed cinematography and robotic mock-up of a bee wing showed that lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency". Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small arc, it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a fruitfly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.
NAVIGATION, COMMUNICATION AND FINDING FOOD
The ethologist Karl von Frisch studied navigation in the honey bee. He showed that honey bees communicate by the waggle dance, in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth's magnetic field. He showed that the sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark beehive. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a "rich, map-like organization".
DIGESTION
The gut of bees is relatively simple, but multiple metabolic strategies exist in the gut microbiota. Pollinating bees consume nectar and pollen, which require different digestion strategies by somewhat specialized bacteria. While nectar is a liquid of mostly monosaccharide sugars and so easily absorbed, pollen contains complex polysaccharides: branching pectin and hemicellulose. Approximately five groups of bacteria are involved in digestion. Three groups specialize in simple sugars (Snodgrassella and two groups of Lactobacillus), and two other groups in complex sugars (Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium). Digestion of pectin and hemicellulose is dominated by bacterial clades Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium respectively. Bacteria that cannot digest polysaccharides obtain enzymes from their neighbors, and bacteria that lack certain amino acids do the same, creating multiple ecological niches.
Although most bee species are nectarivorous and palynivorous, some are not. Particularly unusual are vulture bees in the genus Trigona, which consume carrion and wasp brood, turning meat into a honey-like substance.
ECOLOGY
FLORAL RELATIONSHIPS
Most bees are polylectic (generalist) meaning they collect pollen from a range of flowering plants, but some are oligoleges (specialists), in that they only gather pollen from one or a few species or genera of closely related plants. Specialist pollinators also include bee species which gather floral oils instead of pollen, and male orchid bees, which gather aromatic compounds from orchids (one of the few cases where male bees are effective pollinators). Bees are able to sense the presence of desirable flowers through ultraviolet patterning on flowers, floral odors, and even electromagnetic fields. Once landed, a bee then uses nectar quality and pollen taste to determine whether to continue visiting similar flowers.
In rare cases, a plant species may only be effectively pollinated by a single bee species, and some plants are endangered at least in part because their pollinator is also threatened. But, there is a pronounced tendency for oligolectic bees to be associated with common, widespread plants visited by multiple pollinator species. For example, the creosote bush in the arid parts of the United States southwest is associated with some 40 oligoleges.
AS MIMICS AND MODELS
Many bees are aposematically coloured, typically orange and black, warning of their ability to defend themselves with a powerful sting. As such they are models for Batesian mimicry by non-stinging insects such as bee-flies, robber flies and hoverflies, all of which gain a measure of protection by superficially looking and behaving like bees.
Bees are themselves Müllerian mimics of other aposematic insects with the same colour scheme, including wasps, lycid and other beetles, and many butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) which are themselves distasteful, often through acquiring bitter and poisonous chemicals from their plant food. All the Müllerian mimics, including bees, benefit from the reduced risk of predation that results from their easily recognised warning coloration.
Bees are also mimicked by plants such as the bee orchid which imitates both the appearance and the scent of a female bee; male bees attempt to mate (pseudocopulation) with the furry lip of the flower, thus pollinating it
AS BROOD PARASITES
Brood parasites occur in several bee families including the apid subfamily Nomadinae. Females of these species lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa) and do not construct their own nests. They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the "cuckoo" bee larva hatches, it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and often the host egg also. In particular, the Arctic bee species, Bombus hyperboreus is an aggressive species that attacks and enslaves other bees of the same subgenus. However, unlike many other bee brood parasites, they have pollen baskets and often collect pollen.
In Southern Africa, hives of African honeybees (A. mellifera scutellata) are being destroyed by parasitic workers of the Cape honeybee, A. m. capensis. These lay diploid eggs ("thelytoky"), escaping normal worker policing, leading to the colony's destruction; the parasites can then move to other hives.
The cuckoo bees in the Bombus subgenus Psithyrus are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size. This common pattern gave rise to the ecological principle "Emery's rule". Others parasitize bees in different families, like Townsendiella, a nomadine apid, two species of which are cleptoparasites of the dasypodaid genus Hesperapis, while the other species in the same genus attacks halictid bees.
NOCTURNAL BEES
Four bee families (Andrenidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, and Apidae) contain some species that are crepuscular. Most are tropical or subtropical, but some live in arid regions at higher latitudes. These bees have greatly enlarged ocelli, which are extremely sensitive to light and dark, though incapable of forming images. Some have refracting superposition compound eyes: these combine the output of many elements of their compound eyes to provide enough light for each retinal photoreceptor. Their ability to fly by night enables them to avoid many predators, and to exploit flowers that produce nectar only or also at night.
PREDATORS, PARASITES AND PATHOGENS
Vertebrate predators of bees include bee-eaters, shrikes and flycatchers, which make short sallies to catch insects in flight. Swifts and swallows fly almost continually, catching insects as they go. The honey buzzard attacks bees' nests and eats the larvae. The greater honeyguide interacts with humans by guiding them to the nests of wild bees. The humans break open the nests and take the honey and the bird feeds on the larvae and the wax. Among mammals, predators such as the badger dig up bumblebee nests and eat both the larvae and any stored food.Specialist ambush predators of visitors to flowers include crab spiders, which wait on flowering plants for pollinating insects; predatory bugs, and praying mantises, some of which (the flower mantises of the tropics) wait motionless, aggressive mimics camouflaged as flowers. Beewolves are large wasps that habitually attack bees; the ethologist Niko Tinbergen estimated that a single colony of the beewolf Philanthus triangulum might kill several thousand honeybees in a day: all the prey he observed were honeybees. Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include robber flies and dragonflies. Honey bees are affected by parasites including acarine and Varroa mites. However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites.
RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANS
IN MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE
Homer's Hymn to Hermes describes three bee-maidens with the power of divination and thus speaking truth, and identifies the food of the gods as honey. Sources associated the bee maidens with Apollo and, until the 1980s, scholars followed Gottfried Hermann (1806) in incorrectly identifying the bee-maidens with the Thriae. Honey, according to a Greek myth, was discovered by a nymph called Melissa ("Bee"); and honey was offered to the Greek gods from Mycenean times. Bees were also associated with the Delphic oracle and the prophetess was sometimes called a bee.
The image of a community of honey bees has been used from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, and by political and social theorists such as Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx as a model for human society. In English folklore, bees would be told of important events in the household, in a custom known as "Telling the bees".
IN ART AND LITERATURE
Some of the oldest examples of bees in art are rock paintings in Spain which have been dated to 15,000 BC.
W. B. Yeats's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1888) contains the couplet "Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / And live alone in the bee loud glade." At the time he was living in Bedford Park in the West of London. Beatrix Potter's illustrated book The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910) features Babbity Bumble and her brood (pictured). Kit Williams' treasure hunt book The Bee on the Comb (1984) uses bees and beekeeping as part of its story and puzzle. Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees (2004), and the 2009 film starring Dakota Fanning, tells the story of a girl who escapes her abusive home and finds her way to live with a family of beekeepers, the Boatwrights.
The humorous 2007 animated film Bee Movie used Jerry Seinfeld's first script and was his first work for children; he starred as a bee named Barry B. Benson, alongside Renée Zellweger. Critics found its premise awkward and its delivery tame. Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale (2014) describes his efforts to save bumblebees in Britain, as well as much about their biology. The playwright Laline Paull's fantasy The Bees (2015) tells the tale of a hive bee named Flora 717 from hatching onwards.
BEEKEEPING
Humans have kept honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, for millennia. Beekeepers collect honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly from hives; bees are also kept to pollinate crops and to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers.
Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000 years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian art around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used; jars of honey were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. From the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested without destroying the colony. Among Classical Era authors, beekeeping with the use of smoke is described in Aristotle's History of Animals Book 9. The account mentions that bees die after stinging; that workers remove corpses from the hive, and guard it; castes including workers and non-working drones, but "kings" rather than queens; predators including toads and bee-eaters; and the waggle dance, with the "irresistible suggestion" of άpοσειονται ("aroseiontai", it waggles) and παρακολουθούσιν ("parakolouthousin", they watch).
Beekeeping is described in detail by Virgil in his Georgics; it is also mentioned in his Aeneid, and in Pliny's Natural History.
AS COMMERCIAL POLLINATORS
Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in many ecosystems that contain flowering plants. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on pollination by insects, birds and bats, most of which is accomplished by bees, whether wild or domesticated. Over the last half century, there has been a general decline in the species richness of wild bees and other pollinators, probably attributable to stress from increased parasites and disease, the use of pesticides, and a general decrease in the number of wild flowers. Climate change probably exacerbates the problem.
Contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. After the introduction of Varroa mites, feral honey bees declined dramatically in the US, though their numbers have since recovered. The number of colonies kept by beekeepers declined slightly, through urbanization, systematic pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites, and the closure of beekeeping businesses. In 2006 and 2007 the rate of attrition increased, and was described as colony collapse disorder. In 2010 invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus Nosema ceranae were shown to be in every killed colony, and deadly in combination. Winter losses increased to about 1/3. Varroa mites were thought to be responsible for about half the losses.
Apart from colony collapse disorder, losses outside the US have been attributed to causes including pesticide seed dressings, using neonicotinoids such as Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam. From 2013 the European Union restricted some pesticides to stop bee populations from declining further. In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that bees faced increased risk of extinction because of global warming. In 2018 the European Union decided to ban field use of all three major neonicotinoids; they remain permitted in veterinary, greenhouse, and vehicle transport usage.
Farmers have focused on alternative solutions to mitigate these problems. By raising native plants, they provide food for native bee pollinators like Lasioglossum vierecki and L. leucozonium, leading to less reliance on honey bee populations.
AS FOOD PRODUCERS
Honey is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey. Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in rock paintings in Spain dated to 15,000 BC.
Honey bees are used commercially to produce honey. They also produce some substances used as dietary supplements with possible health benefits, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly, though all of these can also cause allergic reactions.
AS FOOD (BE BROOD)
Bees are partly considered edible insects. Indigenous people in many countries eat insects, including the larvae and pupae of bees, mostly stingless species. They also gather larvae, pupae and surrounding cells, known as bee brood, for consumption. In the Indonesian dish botok tawon from Central and East Java, bee larvae are eaten as a companion to rice, after being mixed with shredded coconut, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.
Bee brood (pupae and larvae) although low in calcium, has been found to be high in protein and carbohydrate, and a useful source of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and trace minerals iron, zinc, copper, and selenium. In addition, while bee brood was high in fat, it contained no fat soluble vitamins (such as A, D, and E) but it was a good source of most of the water-soluble B-vitamins including choline as well as vitamin C. The fat was composed mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with 2.0% being polyunsaturated fatty acids.
AS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax and apitoxin (Bee venom). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported by evidence-based medicine.
STINGS
The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In Lasioglossum leucozonium, the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-heptacosane, and 22-docosanolide. However, the secretions of these glands could also be used for nest construction.
WIKIPEDIA
Buckbrush, Ceanothus cuneatus,
El Moro Elfin Forest, Los Osos, California
Honey Bees collect pollen in a pollen basket or corbicula, visible on the rear leg. Also visible is some loose pollen just below the sac.
"After approximately 3 weeks as house bees, the workers become foragers, gathering pollen, nectar, water, and propolis for the colony. This period of their lives also averages about 3 weeks. . . . Pollen collection tends to be an activity of younger foragers and nectar collection a function of older foragers.
Pollen pellets are deposited in empty cells near the brood nest by the pollen-collecting workers. In the cells, the pollen undergoes a maturing process to what is commonly called bee bread. Details of the maturing process are not understood."
Honey Bee Life History
By GORDON D. WALLER
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