HerbalEGram: Volume 14, Issue 6, June 2017

Antioxidant-Rich Honey Harvested from Nests in Towering Tropical Trees of Southeast Asia

Editor’s note: This video was produced independently by Chris Kilham. Information provided is for educational purposes. The views expressed by all contributors belong to them and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Botanical Council.

In this video, “Medicine Hunter” Chris Kilham observes the harvesting of tualang honey in the northeastern Malaysian state of Terengganu. Native to Southeast Asia, Koompassia excelsa is a tropical tree that belongs to the legume (Fabaceae) family and is known by various regional names, including tualang and mengaris.^1,2 It is one of the tallest known rainforest tree species and can reach 85 meters (about 280 feet), or more, in height.³ The tree’s branches grow above the canopy and its bark is smooth and slippery, which prevents potential predators, like sun bears, from reaching the honey that is produced by giant honey bees (also sometimes called Asian rock bees; Apis dorsata), which build nests on the tree’s branches.^1,2

Tualang honey is often more valuable to humans than the timber of K. excelsa, and the trees are legally protected from being cut down in certain parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Thus, a synergistic relationship exists between the trees and the bees: each provides a degree of protection to the other. However, because of widespread logging and a shortage of heavy hardwood timber, demand for K. excelsa wood has reportedly increased.^1,2 It is listed in the category of least concern, according to the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the assessment on the Red List website was published in 1998, and an update is needed.³

Tualang honey is considered multifloral. “The bees harvest nectar from endemic flowers in the forest, and those very many flowers remain constant over time,” wrote Kilham (email, June 6, 2017). According to Kilham, the specific flowers visited by the bees have not been documented.

“Comparative studies of tualang honey and other honeys show higher levels of some antioxidant constituents that are known in the literature to confer health benefits,” Kilham continued. “Tracking the bees as they work is impossible, so we do not know exactly what they are up to.”

Also, according to Kilham, tualang honey harvesting is limited partly due to the extreme danger of collection, so overharvesting is not a major concern. “In tualang trees during honey season [which usually occurs from about May to September] there are anywhere from 50-100 hives,” Kilham wrote. “Collectors take some hives from each tree and leave the rest. When a hive is taken, a very small percentage of bees from that hive die by drowning in the honey. The majority of the bees are not harmed, just a bit [irritated].” After a hive is taken, Kilham explained, the remaining bees, which often number in the thousands, build a new hive and carry on.

In addition, according to Kilham, the majority of tualang trees are never touched or climbed because they are located too deep in the forest and are too difficult to access. “The trees that are climbed tend to be somewhat near roads and palm plantations, and are thus accessible,” he said.

Malays have traditionally used the bark of K. excelsa in medicinal baths for the treatment of fevers.² In addition, the roots of K. excelsa have been traditionally boiled with the roots of Agelaea macrophylla (Connaraceae) and Eusideroxylon zwageri (Lauraceae), “and the solution drunk to treat weakness in infants.”⁴

—ABC Staff

References

1. The tualang tree or Koompassia excelsa. Rainforest Journal website. Available at: www.rainforestjournal.com/the-tualang-tree-or-koompassia-excelsa/. Accessed June 7, 2017.

2. Praciak A, Pasiecznik N, Sheil D, et al., eds. The CABI Encyclopedia of Forest Trees. Oxfordshire, UK: CABI; 2013.

3. Koompassia excelsa. IUCN website. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org/details/33208/0. Accessed June 7, 2017.

4. Quattrocchi U. CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2012.