PERSIMMON OR TERRACOTTA?

Although it is only possible to identify the plants that honey comes from with a microscope or a DNA analysis, watching the bees is a habitual and pleasurable pastime. Most pollen comes in distinct colours that can be checked against Farrow & Ball type colour charts. There are few things that beekeepers like more in Spring than checking their charges for signs of returning pollen on their legs and boring anyone who will listen about the likely finding. 

(Still the best book on the subject is Dorothy Hodgekins’, long out of print, “Pollen Loads of the Honey Bee”. Be warned, copies change hands for hundreds of pounds).