Chapter D: DAHOON, see Holly (2)

Figure 69 pictures a hawthorn in full bloom. The picture does not do justice to the masses of white flowers with which the tree was covered. This is an eastern species (=Crataegus punctata=), which occurs from Quebec to Ontario and south to Georgia. It was about the middle of June when this picture was taken and the bees were working on these trees everywhere we went. Clover had not begun to yield to any extent and the thorn was a great boost to the bees wherever it was plentiful.

There are many different species of hawthorn, or haw, some of which occur in Europe and Asia, as well as in North America. On this continent some species are common from Canada to Mexico and west to the treeless plains. Scholl reports the white thorn (=Crataegus spathulata=) as valuable for both honey and pollen in Texas, where it blooms in April. There are about 25 species of these trees within the United States, and all may be regarded as valuable sources of honey where they are sufficiently plentiful. In general, they may be regarded as similar to the tree fruits in quality and quantity of nectar. Five species are known to occur in Ontario, where they are regarded as important honey plants.

HAZELNUT (Corylus americana).

The hazelnut is a slender growing shrub common in the borders of woodlands of the most of the temperate North America. It yields some pollen and is valuable where there is a scarcity of early pollen-bearing plants. The figure shows the male blossoms, which are more conspicuous than the fertile ones.

HEARTSEASE (Polygonum).

We now come to another large family with a variety of names. In some localities one name will apply, while in another the plant will be known by an entirely different one. Smartweed, knotweed, doorweed, persicaria, lady’s thumb, water pepper, heartsease and several other names are applied to these plants. They are widely distributed, covering practically all of the United States and Canada, as well as much of Europe and Asia. =P. persicara=, or lady’s thumb, the large-flowered kind, is most often called heartsease, and is also said to be the best honey producer. It is an introduced species, coming from Europe, and is still widely scattered through the sale of clover seed, the seed of this plant being commonly mixed with red clover seed.

The honey gathered from these plants varies greatly, both in quantity and quality. Some species do not seem to yield at all, at least not regularly, while others produce large quantities of nectar. The blooming period in the North is from midsummer until frost, and occasionally large yields are reported, an average of 200 pounds per colony not being the highest on record, from this source alone. Sometimes honey from these plants is of very good quality, while from other species it is very dark and of inferior grade. The better grade of honey is sometimes designated as heartsease honey, while the poorer grade is called smartweed honey.

These plants grow in moist fields everywhere, and frequently come up in grain fields and stubbles late in summer, after cultivation has ceased, thus offering plentiful forage for the bees, in fields where otherwise they would find nothing.

HEATHER (Calluna vulgaris).

Heather is a very important honey plant in Europe, but occurs in few places in America. Gray’s botany lists it at the following places: “Low grounds, Massachusetts at Tewksbury and West Andover; Maine, at Cape Elizabeth; also Nova Scotia; Cape Breton; New Foundland, etc.” It may in time become locally important in Eastern America, though it is doubtful whether it be so at present.

Writing in Gleanings, D. M. MacDonald has the following comments on heather honey in Scotland:

“The product of heather is of a rich amber color, bright and
sparkling, rather than dull and shady. It has a pronounced flavor,
delicious to the palate when one has acquired a liking for it. The
aroma is pungent and penetrating, making itself manifest in a room
where heather honey is kept in a closed cupboard. Its consistency
is so remarkable that it will not leave the comb by any amount of
centrifugal force used in the extractor, and when desired in the
liquid form, the combs have to be melted and pressed by heavy screw
power in a specially constructed press. Most beekeepers in heather
districts, therefore, work for sections only; but it pays well to
press all defective combs preserved for the purpose, and thus renew
the wax of the brood area periodically. On account of the profusion
of the bloom, the flow is at times extraordinarily abundant; but as
the lateness of the season frequently causes unfavorable weather
conditions, the crop is an uncertain one.

“Heather honey sells for about double the price obtained for any
other kind in this country. While a great part of the flower, clover
and lime honey brings the apiarist only 18 cents per pound, heather
frequently fetches him 36 cents. While, too, the other kind drags
on the market, heather honey sells readily and is often disposed
of before it comes off the hives. Retail prices in warehouses
in Edinburg and London are often as high as 48 to 60 cents per
section.”--October 1, 1910.

In November, 1913, C. P. Dadant, editor of the American Bee Journal, wrote as follows concerning heather in southern France, seen by him during his visit to Europe in 1913:

“I had often heard of the ‘Landes’ of Gascony, but thought them low,
sandy plains. They are rolling hills instead, and extend for scores
of miles along the Gulf of Gascony.

“The growth upon the ‘Landes’ is confined to numerous ferns, scrubby
pines and cork oaks, with a very thick undergrowth of heather. Just
now the heather is in its fullest bloom (September), and there
are perhaps 20 different varieties, ranging from the palest pink
to almost red and deep yellow in color. It is a mass of flowers
upon which the bees work from June until frost, which comes very
late, usually not before November. So we may readily call this
the eldorado of beekeeping. There is only one dark side to the
picture--the heather honey is dark in color, a deep amber, strong in
flavor and almost impossible to extract with the honey extractor.
Here I ascertained positively what I already suspected, that when
speaking of nectar containing 75 per cent of water, we should confine
ourselves to the nectar of our moist prairies. I am told that much of
the nectar harvested from heather, in this dry, sandy soil, is too
thick at the end of the first day to be thrown out readily.”

HEATHER, see also Eriogonum.

(Photographed by Prof. Hottes.)]

HEDGE NETTLE or WOUNDWORT (Stachys).

The hedge nettles are herbs with flowers in terminal spikes as shown in Fig. 73. The corollas are two-lipped and =Stachys agraria= is commonly known as “mint” in the Rio Grande Valley. At several places in the extreme south part of Texas the author heard reports of surplus honey from this source and from related species.

Richter lists three species, =Stachys ajugoides=, the white hedge nettle, =Stachys albens=, and =Stachys bullata=, as yielding honey in California.

Other species are common to the Eastern States from Ontario south to the Gulf States.

HELENIUM, see Bitterweed.

HELIANTHUS, see Sunflower.

HELIOTROPE (Heliotropium).

The cultivated heliotrope and also the wild heliotrope (=Heliotropium curassavicum=) are listed by Richter as sources of honey in California. There is also an occasional mention of heliotrope as a source of nectar in the bee magazines, but probably it is not important.

HERCULES CLUB or ANGELICA TREE (Aralia spinosa).

Hercules club or angelica tree is a shrub or small tree common to damp borders of the woods and river banks from Virginia to Missouri, and south to Florida and Louisiana. The flowers are white and appear in early summer. It is reported as yielding nectar abundantly, though not often as a source of surplus.

HERON’S BILL, see Pin Clover.

HETEROMELES, see Christmas Berry.

HICKORY (Hicoria).

The hickories are an important group of forest trees of wide distribution. They are of special interest to the beekeepers as sources of large amounts of honeydew from aphis, which are frequently to be found on the leaves. These trees are important for pollen, also, in many localities.

HIMALAYA BERRY, see Blackberry.

HOARHOUND (Marrubium vulgare).

Hoarhound (Fig. 74) is a well-known plant, introduced from Europe, which has become naturalized from Canada south to the Gulf of Mexico. The plant is perennial, flowering from July to September. It occurs in waste places, along roadsides and near dwellings over a wide scope of country.

It is one of the chief sources of nectar in places in the Arkansas Valley in Kansas, also in portions of Texas. The honey is dark amber and strong in flavor. Beekeepers report it as important at Seguin, Texas. Reports of honey from this source come from widely separated localities from the Eastern States to California.

Richter lists it as blooming in May and June in southern California, but at the usual period further north. He reports that Ventura and Los Angeles Counties produce hoarhound in considerable quantities, but that it is regarded with disfavor in the sage districts because a small quantity of this honey, mixed with the sage, impairs the color and flavor of the latter.

Wherever plentiful, hoarhound may be expected to yield some honey, and in many places it yields surplus in quantity. Although not of the best quality, it is still an important honey plant.

HOARY VERBENA, see Vervain.

HOG GUM, see Poisonwood.

HOLLY (Ilex).

The holly family is a large one, with representatives in Europe, Asia and South America, as well as North America. There are more than a dozen species on this continent, most of them common to the Southeastern States. The common holly (=Ilex opaca=) is found from Massachusetts and New York south to Florida and west to Arkansas and Texas. It is reported as a valuable source of nectar in most of the Southern States. The Myrtle-leaf dahoon holly (=Ilex myrtifolia=) occurs from North Carolina to Florida and western Louisiana.

The holly trees bloom in May, and in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi are reported as yielding rapidly for a short period of time, usually three to ten days.

The deciduous holly or privet (=Ilex decidua=), of the Southeast, is known in Texas as possum haw or bearberry. It ranges from southern Virginia to Florida and west to Missouri and Texas. It blooms early and is reported as yielding well for a short period.

The yaupon (=Ilex caroliniana=) Trelease, is frequently reported as a source of honey by Texas beekeepers, though Scholl lists it as unimportant.

The gallberry (=Ilex glabra=) is probably the most important source of honey of the group, especially in the Gulf region. (See Gallberry).

HOLLYHOCK (Althaea rosea).

The hollyhock is one of the oldest cultivated garden flowers. It is a native of China and is to be found in every garden of old fashioned flowers. Wherever found, the bees seek it eagerly, and apparently it secretes nectar freely.

HONEYDEW.

Such material as the bees may store as honey, which is not secured from the nectaries of plants, is usually spoken of as honeydew. There are numerous exudations of plants which attract the bees and which can hardly be regarded as nectar, to which the term honeydew may well be applied.

The main source of honeydew, however, is from insects rather than from plants. Aphids, scale insects and leaf hoppers yield this sugar in great abundance. These sucking insects are often found on various trees or plants in large colonies, feeding on the sap; while bees and ants gather to feed upon their excretions. At times aphids are so abundant that they eject honeydew in such quantity as to cover the leaves on lower levels with the sticky substance, till the drops give the impression that it might have rained. The bees gather honeydew readily in the absence of a natural honeyflow, carry it to the hive and seal it in their combs the same as honey.

The quality of most honeydew is inferior and it brings a low price in the markets, being in most demand for baking purposes. Since there is a much larger percentage of gums in honeydew than in honey it makes a poor food for winter stores. The excess matter clogs the intestines of the bees, and where they are confined on such stores for long periods without an opportunity for cleansing flight, a heavy mortality results.

There are hundreds of references to honeydew in the beekeeping literature. A few are given here to indicate the extent to which bees gather this insect product:

“The most copious flow of honeydew I ever saw was in 1897. It was
from the pine. In early morning and late in the evening it could be
seen dripping from the leaves, till all the leaves and even the bare
ground beneath them were covered with the nectar. The bees swarmed
over the trees and the hives were filled as I had never seen them
before. The honey was light amber and of fine flavor, and gave my
customers the best of satisfaction. While this flow was on, there was
scarcely any honeydew to be found except on the pines, and every pine
was dripping with it.”--C. C. Parsons, Alabama. American Bee Journal,
page 546, 1899.

“We have had the heaviest honeydew flow ever known in this part of
the State. We have tons of the stuff.”--Scholl. American Bee Journal,
August, 1910.

“My bees stored a quantity of honeydew which granulated in the combs
as fast as stored.”--South Carolina. American Bee Journal, August,
1910.

“Of 250 colonies of bees in this town last fall there are not more
than 20 left. It is not the winter that kills the bees, but poor
honey. Honeydew is half an inch deep all over my honeyhouse floor; it
soured and ran out of the combs where I packed up my hives. The bees
will not touch the horrid stuff, nor can I get a swarm to go into
a hive with one frame of it on one side, and good clean combs and
frames of brood for the rest.”--Vermont. American Bee Journal, page
458, 1904.

“Bees are working on honeydew, the trees just glistening with it. I
have several hundred pounds of it in the supers. It is bad looking
stuff, not fit to eat or sell.”--Iowa. American Bee Journal, page
537, 1904.

Not all honeydew is of such bad color and flavor. There are numerous reports of honeydew of such flavor and quality that it finds a ready sale in competition with good honey. However, it is usually unsatisfactory for winter stores for the bees, regardless of its source.

HONEY LOCUST (Gleditsia triacanthos). THORNY LOCUST.

The honey locust is a well-known tree from Pennsylvania and Ontario to Florida and westward to Texas and Kansas. It prefers rich bottom lands, seldom being found on dry hillsides. The tree has spreading branches and very long, red brown thorns. The thorns are often branched and sometimes nearly a foot in length. At times they cover the trunk of the tree in great abundance. The flowers appear in May or June.

While the honey locust is the source of considerable nectar, it is not equal to the black locust (=Robinia pseudo-acacia=). (See Locust.)

The two species are often confused, although the long thorns peculiar to the honey locust should distinguish it readily.

There are numerous reports to the effect that the bees work freely on honey locust, but it is seldom regarded as a source of surplus, while the black locust yields abundantly for a short period, under favorable conditions.

HONEY POD, see Mesquite.

HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera).

The honeysuckles are rich in nectar, but most species have corolla tubes of such depth as to be beyond the reach of the honeybee. There are numerous reports of the bees seeking nectar from such species as they can reach, and from Minnesota come reports of the bush honeysuckle as an important plant. (See Bush Honeysuckle).

HOPS (Humulus Lupulus).

The common hop plant is too well known to need description. It is common from New England to British Columbia and southward. It is very generally cultivated for making yeast and for medicinal purposes. The small greenish flowers are wind-pollenated. It furnishes pollen in abundance, but no nectar. (Fig. 75).

HOP-TREE (Ptelea trifoliata), SHRUBBY TREFOIL.

The hop-tree occurs from New England and Ontario south to Florida and westward to Michigan, Illinois and Missouri to central Texas. It is a shrub or small tree known also as wahoo and quinine tree. The bitter fruit is sometimes used as a substitute for hops. The flowers have a disagreeable odor. Scholl lists the honey yield as good, and very good, in favorable seasons, where the shrub is abundant. The California hop-tree (=Ptelea crenulata=) occurs in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and in the Coast ranges. Its bloom has an agreeable aromatic odor. The author can find no reports that indicate it is regarded as important to the beekeepers of that region.

There are numerous reports to the effect that the hop-tree is a good source of nectar in the Eastern States.

HORSE CHESTNUT, see Buckeye.

HORSEMINT (Monarda).

There are several species of horsemint, known also as bee balm, wild bergamot, etc. Some of the species are represented from New England to Texas. Figure 77 shows =M. fistulosa=, the wild bergamot of the North. The corolla tubes are so deep that, as a rule, the bees are unable to reach the nectar. In some cases it is reported as yielding freely and the author has seen times when the bees were apparently getting considerable nectar from this species. Whether the nectar secretion is unusually abundant or the corolla tubes shortened more than is commonly the case, the author will not venture an opinion. In parts of Wisconsin, =M. punctata= (Fig. 76), according to D. L. H. Pammel, can be depended upon to yield an abundance of nectar every season. This is probably the most important species to the beekeeper. It is found more or less commonly on sandy soil from New York to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. In Texas it is the source of very large quantities of surplus honey in seasons following wet winters and springs. The honey is a clear light amber with a decided minty flavor. It is one of the most important sources in Texas, where, together with =M. clinopodioides=, it is regarded very highly. In the Arkansas Valley of southern Kansas horsemint is also important, yielding as high as fifty pounds of surplus per colony.

HOUND’S-TONGUE (Cynoglossum officinale).

Hound’s-tongue is a weed introduced from Europe. It is now common in parts of Canada and the Northwestern States and occurs in Missouri and Arkansas, and from the Ohio Valley to the Carolinas and north Georgia. It is named from the shape and texture of the leaf. The illustration (Fig. 78) was photographed in open woods near Guelph, Ontario. There it is frequently mentioned as a good honey plant.

HUAJILLA, see Acacia.

HUCKLEBERRY (Gaylussacia).

There are several species of huckleberry common to the Eastern States. The common huckleberry of the markets, the black huckleberry (=Gaylussacia baccata=) is common from Eastern Canada to Minnesota and south to Georgia, in rocky woodlands and swamps. This species also occurs on the Pacific Coast, and W. J. Sheppard reports it is a honey plant in British Columbia. (Fig. 79).

Lovell reports that it is very abundant on Cape Cod and yields every year.

HUISACHE, see Acacia.

HYDROPHYLLUM, see Virginia Waterleaf.