royal jelly

royal jelly

a substance secreted by the pharyngeal glands of worker bees and fed to all larvae when very young and to larvae destined to become queens throughout their development

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

royal jelly

[′rōi·əl ′jel·ē]

(materials)

A protein complex high in vitamin B secreted by bees to nourish the egg of the queen bee; used in face creams.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Royal Jelly

 

a secretion of the mandibular and pharyngeal glands discharged by worker nurse-bees in special cells of the honeycomb (queen cells), in which the queen bees develop.

The bees deposit 0.2-0.5 grams of royal jelly in one queen cell. In order to secrete royal jelly, the nurse-bees need, besides honey, pollen or beebread. In dry form royal jelly contains 40-58 percent protein, 5-18 percent fat, about 26 percent sugar, and a number of mineral salts, as well as vitamins and other biologically active substances. The composition of royal jelly depends mainly on the pollen the bees are feeding on. Apilac, a preparation used in medicine and perfume, is made from royal jelly.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.