melliferous, adj.
Pronunciation: Brit. /mᵻˈlɪf(ə)rəs/, U.S. /məˈlɪf(ə)rəs/
Etymology: < classical Latin mellifer ( < mell-, mel honey (see mell n.2) + -fer -fer comb. form) + -ous suffix. Compare Middle French, French mellifère (1523 in an isolated attestation; otherwise 19th cent.).
Yielding or producing honey. Also fig.
1656 T. Blount Glossographia, Melliferous, that bringeth or beareth honey.
1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra iv. ii. §22 Judæa..could not but abound with Melliferous Plants of the best kind.
1772 Birmingham Counterfeit I. vi. 97 The stings of Cupid's melliferous darts.
1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) I. 296 Insects attracted by the melliferous glands of the flower.
1836 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants (ed. 2) 121 (note) The tube of the corolla [of Anchusa] is melliferous, and very attractive to bees.
1861 R. T. Hulme tr. C. H. Moquin-Tandon Elem Med. Zool. ii. iii. 196 The most perfect melliferous animals are the Bees.
1895 F. W. Oliver et al. tr. A. Kerner von Marilaun Nat. Hist. Plants II. 128 [These] in the case of melliferous flowers preserve..the honey from being spoilt by the wet.
1950 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 77 495 The morphology of the pollen grains of the more abundant melliferous species of Galicia were studied.
1984 Listener 3 May 34/4 Plight of the Bumble-bee..is a melliferous story of the nectarian travels of the industrious bee
1991 Agroforestry Syst. 13 13 How do Mayans choose the melliferous flora?
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