Mad honey

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) warns his readers of the dangers of toxic honey from the area around the Black Sea settled by Greeks (Pontus):

At Heraclia in Pontus, the honey is extremely pernicious in certain years, though it is the same bees that make it at other times. Authors, however, have not informed us from what flowers this honey is extracted; we shall, therefore, take this opportunity of stating what we have ascertained upon the subject.

There is a certain plant which, from the circumstance that it proves fatal to beasts of burden, and to goats in particular, has obtained the name of "ægolcthron," [ goat death] and the blossoms of  which, steeped in the rains of a wet spring, contract most noxious properties, Hence it is that it is not every year that these dangerous results are experienced. The following are the signs of the honey being poisonous [Actually, Pliny is wrong here -- there is no way of telling which honey is poisonous just by looking at it.]: it never thickens, the colour is redder than usual, and it emits a peculiar smell which immediately produces sneezing; while, at the same time, it is more weighty than a similar quantity of good honey. Persons, when they have eaten of it, throw themselves on the ground to cool the body, which is bathed with a profuse perspiration. There are numerous remedies, of which we shall have occasion to speak in a more appropriate place; but as it will be as well to mention some of them on the present occasion, by way of being provided for such insidious accidents, I will here state that old honied wine is good, mixed with the finest honey and rue; salt meats, also, taken repeatedly in small quantities, and as often brought up again.

It is a well-known fact that dogs, after tasting the excretions of persons suffering from these attacks, have been attacked with similar symptoms, and have experienced the same kind of pains.

The plant that produces this deadly nectar is the rhododendron. More specifically:

Honey produced from the flowers of rhododendrons, mountain laurels, sheep laurel, and azaleas may cause honey intoxication. Symptoms include dizziness, weakness, excessive perspiration, nausea, and vomiting. Less commonly, low blood pressure, shock, heart rhythm irregularities, and convulsions may occur, with rare cases resulting in death.

Apparently there are so many of these rhododendrons in the pontic area that bees produce honey with high concentrations of the chemical known as grayanotoxin. The Wikipedia article on grayanotoxin reports on its use as a form of "chemical warfare":

According to Pliny and later Strabo  the locals used the honey against the armies of Xenophon in 401 BCE and later against Pompey  in 69 BCE.

Here is Xenophon's own testimony in the Anabasis or Persian Journey, from the fifth century BC:

All the soldiers who ate of the honeycombs lost their senses, and were seized with vomiting and purging, none of them being able to stand on their legs. Those who ate but a little were like men very drunk, and those who ate much, like madmen, and some like dying persons. In this condition great numbers lay on the ground, as if there had been a defeat, and the sorrow was general. The next day, none of them died, but recovered their senses about the same hour they were seized; and the third and fourth day, they got up as if they had taken a strong potion.

There is a fascinating article from 1991 by Robert S. Root-Bernstein on "mad honey," called Infectious Terrorism, published in the Atlantic, which contains a wealth of historical and scientific details.

The photo and the rhododendron are mine. Scribal points to Marco for correctly translating the word rhododendron as red tree.

Comments

[Marco McClean]

I'm not sure what you're asking. Rhodo means red and dendron means tree. Is that it?

[gail]

Yes. Red tree.

[Carin]

That's a perty tree Gail. I just planted two rhododenrons at the new house.

[gail]

Just don't set up a beehive nearby.

[JBelle]

I photoed a bee feeding on rhodos a week ago. The bee was crazed, with a voracious appetite. The longer he fed the wilder he became. I was utterly fascinated and took about 50 pictures of him; what just amazed me was that he was oblivious to me, despite his manic state. Completely ignored me poking a 60mm lens up his little butt.

[Clare]

New Zealand had a problem with toxic honey a few weeks ago. The bees had been feeding on the flowers of the 'Tutu' plant. The symptoms were seizures and vomiting.

Toxic honey

Toxic honey is produced as a result of bees gathering honeydew excreted by bugs feeding on sap of the ‘tutu’ plant (Coriaria arborea). Tutu is widely distributed throughout New Zealand, particularly along stream banks and in regenerating native scrub. The plant is poisonous as it contains tutin, a natural toxin. Honey made from tutu honeydew also contains the toxin.

Toxic honey is a rare event, and historically occurred primarily in the Coromandel Peninsula, Eastern Bay of Plenty and the Marlborough Sounds, although it is possible it could occur elsewhere.

[gail]

Interesting! Thanks, Clare.

[anaglyph]

Wow, that's incredibly interesting. I used to make mead some years ago... I wonder what kind of bizarre effect you might get from Rhododendron Honey Mead?

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