The R-values of Honey: Pollen Coefficients

One of the goals of melissopalynology is to determine the floral sources utilized by honeybees in the production of honey. Because some types of commercial honey are preferred over others, the preferred types are in high demand and are sold at much higher prices. Verification of these preferred (premium) types of honey is often difficult because many of them come from plant sources that are either weak pollen producers or have pollen that is under-represented in honey. In an effort to verify these premium honey types, researchers developed various methods for correcting the pollen data. These methods produce what are known as pollen coefficient (PC) values. Pollen coefficient values are used to verify honey types produced from floral sources that are over or under-represented in the relative pollen counts of a honey sample. We examine the historical development of PC values, the reliability of PC data, the flaws inherent in the development of various types of PC data, and the steps needed to formulate new types of PC values that would become universally accepted for the verification of honey types.