Bee-forage flora and pollen-based botanical origin of Makkah honeys, western Saudi Arabia

Abstract Melissopalynology is the standard method for determining honey botanical origin, yet the floral basis of honeys from Makkah, western Saudi Arabia, remains poorly addressed. This study combined a taxonomically reconciled checklist of 83 potential bee-forage species with pollen analysis of 15 honey samples collected across Makkah. Pollen was extracted and classified using standard frequency classes; its diversity was evaluated using richness, the Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou’s evenness. Hierarchical clustering was used to group samples by compositional similarity, while principal component analysis was employed to identify the pollen types driving that separation. Pollen spectra were then compared with the checklist, flowering periods and beekeeper-declared sources. Seventeen identified pollen types and an unidentified fraction were recorded. After excluding anemophilous Poaceae-type and the unresolvable Amaranthaceae-type from the nectar denominator, 11 honeys were monofloral, two tentatively monofloral at family level, one bifloral and one unclassifiable. Cleome pallida was the most consistent monofloral source, dominating three honeys (73.2–91.1%), while Zygophyllum simplex , Prosopis juliflora and Vachellia -type pollen characterized other major nectar-derived honeys. Conocarpus erectus formed two further dominant spectra, illustrating the influence of urban forage. Four compositionally distinct sample groups were identified. All identified pollen types matched taxa in the checklist. The declared source was detected in ten samples and fully or partly concordant in seven of them; disagreements reflected pollen under- and over-representation and unidentified morphotypes. These findings establish the first bee-forage and melissopalynological baseline for Makkah, supporting honey authentication, forage management and conservation of arid wadi vegetation.