Figure 1.
Location map showing the study area.
(Left) map showing the position of Shanxi in China, (Right) map showing the sampling sites in the central region of Shanxi.
Table 1.
List of honey samples examined.
Figure 2.
Photomicrographs of selected pollen grains recovered from the honey samples.
1. Poaceae type, 2. Catalpa ovata (Bignoniaceae), 3. Ranunculaceae type, 4. Laminaceae type, 5. Humulus sp. (Moraceae), 6. Juglans regia (Juglandaceae), 7. Glycine max (Fabaceae), 8. Sophora japonica (Fabaceae), 9. Ailanthus altissima (Simaroubaceae), 10. Brassicaceae type, 11. Chenopodiaceae type, 12. Allium sp. (Liliaceae), 13. Fagopyrum esculentum (Polygonaceae), 14. Polygonaceae type, 15. Rhus sp. (Anacardiaceae), 16. Salix sp. (Salicaceae), 17. Prunus sp. (Rosaceae), 18. Melilotus suareolens (Fabaceae), 19. Vitex negundo var. heterophylla (Verbenaceae), 20. Lycopodium sp. (Lycopodiaceae) (Scale bar = 20 µm for Nos. 1, 2, 4–7, 9–20, = 10 µm for Nos. 3, 8).
Figure 3.
Photomicrographs of selected pollen grains recovered from the honey samples (continued).
1. Lonicera maackii (Caprifoliaceae), 2. Syringa sp. (Oleaceae), 3. Meliaceae type, 4. Convolvulus arvensis (Convolvulaceae), 5. Taraxacum mongolicum (Asteraceae), 6–8. Asteraceae type, 9. Polygonaceae type, 10. Robinia pseudoacacia (Fabaceae), 11. Unidentified pollen, 12. Apiaceae type, 13–14. Ziziphus jujuba (Rhamnaceae), 15. Pinus sp. (Pinaceae), 16. Fungi spore (Scale bar = 20 µm).
Table 2.
Pollen types recovered from the honey samples and their frequency.
Table 3.
Pollen types recovered from the honey samples and their frequency (continued).
Table 4.
Pollen types recovered from the honey samples and their frequency (continued).
Table 5.
Pollen types recovered from the honey samples and their frequency (continued).
Figure 4.
Families found in more than 50% of the honey samples.
Caprifoliaceae and Laminaceae, found in 10 samples (52.63%); Brassicaceae and Rosaceae, found in 12 samples (63.16%); Moraceae, found in 13 samples (68.42%); Rhamnaceae, found in 15 samples (78.95%); Asteraceae, found in 17 samples (89.47%); Fabaceae, found in all samples (100%).
Figure 5.
Pollen types found in more than 50% of the honey samples.
Artemisia sp., Fabaceae type, and Laminaceae type, found in 10 samples (52.63%); Brassicaceae type and Robinia pseudoacacia, found in 12 samples (63.16%); Humulus sp., found in 13 samples (68.42%); Sophora japonica and Ziziphus jujuba, found in 15 samples (78.95%).
Figure 6.
Botanical origin of honey samples from the central region of Shanxi.
Of these samples, 5 honeys were multifloral (26.32%) and 14 were unifloral (73.68%): 5 of Ziziphus jujuba (26.32%), 3 of Robinia pseudoacacia (15.79%), 2 of Vitex negundo var. heterophylla (10.53%), 1 of Ailanthus altissima (5.26%), 1 of Sophora japonica (5.26%), 1 of Asteraceae type (5.26%), 1 of Fabaceae type (5.26%).
Table 6.
Pollen analytical data of honey samples from the central region of Shanxi, North China.
Figure 7.
Distribution (%) of the honey samples according to Maurizio’s classes.
Group I (<20,000 pollen grains per 10 g honey) found in 13 samples (68.42%), Group II (20,000–100,000 grains per 10 g honey) found in 4 samples (21.05%), Group III (100,000–500,000 grains per 10 g honey) found in 2 samples (10.53%).