From: RSBrenchley@aol.com
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 18:47:55 EST
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Poisonous honey

From http://www.beekeeping.com/index_us.htm; there's an article on War and
Bees: Military applications of apiculture by Conrad Bérubé.

<<One of the earliest [accounts], from the first century B.C., records the
misfortunes of a Roman campaign, led by Pompeius the Great, against the
Heptakometes in Asia Minor. Interestingly, it is not the bees themselves that
are employed in this instance but, rather, their honey. About one thousand of
Pompeius' Roman troops were passing through a narrow mountain pass when they
encountered a cache of honey. The soldiers, accustomed to raiding and looting
to augment their provisions, halted their advance and eagerly devoured the
honey-- and soon became afflicted with delirium and violent seizures of
vomiting and purges! In such a condition they were easily defeated by the
local Heptakomete defenders who took their cue to attack. It seems that the
honey had been left in the soldiers' path not in an act of flight from the
advancing forces but as a poisonous bait to stupefy them.

The locals would have been well aware that honey produced during certain
times of the year was naturally poisonous. Honey yielded from the nectar of
such plants as Rhododendron ponticum and Azalea pontica contain alkaloids
that are toxic to humans but harmless to bees. After the offending blooms
have stopped flowering, beekeepers in areas where these plants are common
(such as the area of present-day Turkey where this incident occurred)
routinely remove this toxic honey so it doesn't contaminate subsequently
produced stores. The poisonous honey is then fed back to the bees during time
of dearth-- if it hasn't been used first for national defense.>>

Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham, UK.