Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of larvae and adult queens. It is secreted from the glands in the hypopharynx of worker bees, and fed to all larvae in the colony.
When worker bees decide to make a new queen, either because the old one is weakening, or was killed, they choose several small larvae and feed them with copious amounts of royal jelly in specially constructed queen cells. This type of feeding triggers the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.
Read more about Royal Jelly: Cultivation, Composition, Epigenetic Effects, Uses, Adverse Effects, Experimental Research
Famous quotes containing the words royal and/or jelly:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 11:7-9.
Jesus speaking about John the Baptist.
“I love this child. Red-haired—patient and gentle like her mother—fey and funny like her father. When she giggles I can hear him when he and I were young. I am part of this child. It may be only because we share genes and that therefore smell familiar to each other. . . . It may be that a part of me lives in her in some important way. . . . But for now, it’s jelly beans and “Old MacDonald” that unite us.”
—Robert Fulghum (20th century)