With 4500 species of flowering plants within 120km of Grahamstown, our photographer, Dr Jim Cambray has been hard pressed to choose a representative sample of the most beautiful and striking to photograph bees on.

The bitter Aloe, Aloe ferrox,also known as iKhali in Xhosa, is a dominant species in many areas with thousands of plants per hectare. It represents a decent winter honey flow, flowering from May through August depending on area. Honey produced is dark, strong, full bodied and slightly bitter. Pollen is distinctively dark orange.

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all pictures copyright Dr Jim Cambray - full scale pictures available: contact

The sneeze wood tree, Psideroxylum obliquum, or Mthathi in Xhosa, occurs in thick stands in Valley Bushveldt. It flowers in late July, August - September. It's yellow flowers make a beautiful yellow patchwork mosaic. The wood of this tree is impervious to insect attack and causes sneezing when cut. It is of great cultural significance to the Xhosa people, where the leaves are used for serving ceremonial food and the wood is used to start special fires. Honey-wise, sneeze wood honey is medium darkish orange with a spicy nature. The tree produces a strong light yellow pollen flow.

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all pictures copyright Dr Jim Cambray - full scale pictures available: contact

Many other exciting plants have been captured on film, some of which we still have to find the species names for such as this little succulent, which is also found in valley bushveldt, flowers from May-June and is enjoyed by the bees only during wet years when it produced a light honey-flow.

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