BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
There are several species of greenbriar, some of which are common from Canada to Texas. They grow along watercourses and in open woodlands and the stems are covered with stiff and hard thorns. Scholl lists one species as yielding nectar in Texas. The author found reports to the effect that bees gather honey from greenbriar in McLenuan County, Texas. At the same time it was stated that no honey was gathered from it in other nearby sections. The plant seems to be of doubtful value and is not sufficiently abundant to be important.
**GRINDELIA, see Gum Weed.**
**GROUNDSEL, see Butterweed.**
**GROUND LAUREL, see Arbutus.**
**GUAIACUM, see Soapbush.**
**GUAYACAN, see Soapbush.**
**GUM, see Tupelo, also Eucalyptus.**
**GUM-ELASTIC or SHITTIM.WOOD (Bumelia lanuginosa rigida).**
Gum-elastic is the common name in south Texas for the Arizona buckthorn, a small tree occurring from western Texas to Arizona. It has a short stem with stiff and very spiny branches. It is frequently mentioned as a source of honey in southern Texas.
There are reports to the effect that it sometimes yields a surplus along the Trinity River and that the honey often sours in the combs after being sealed.
**GUM TREE, see Eucalyptus, also Tupelo.**
**GUM WEED or GUM PLANT (Grindelia squarrosa).**
The gum weed, also called rosin weed, is a common plant from Wyoming and Colorado south to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It occurs sparingly eastward to Minnesota and Missouri. The bright yellow flowers exude a milky resinous gum, which gives rise to its name, "gum weed," It is also widely known as rosin weed (Fig. 68). It blooms in August and is much sought by the bees. The honey is yellow and of inferior flavor. It is often mixed with light honey in the super and the grade spoiled as a result. In Colorado it is well known by the name of "rosin weed." There the comb-honey producers complain that it often spoils the quality of their product through being mixed with the honey from alfalfa and sweet clover. Honey from gum weed candies very quickly, so quickly in fact, that Colorado beekeepers say that the bees have to hurry home with the load to prevent it becoming candid in their sacs. Comb honey which candies cannot readily be restored, hence in localities where gum weed is abundant the beekeeper may find it to his advantage to produce extracted honey. Even this does not solve the problem entirely, since the gun weed honey candies in the combs so readily as to make it difficult to extract. There are few reports of large surplus from this source. In most cases it is mixed with other honey and only in such quantity as to make it rather a nuisance than otherwise. The tendency to candy in the combs makes it undesirable for winter stores.
Figure 68: Cumweed, or roise weed, of the Great Plains.
## Appendix H Hackberry (Celtis).
The hackberries are an important group of trees. There are about sixty species of trees and shrubs which are widely distributed in both the old world and America. There are about half a dozen species known to America, and of these, three are much valued by the beekeepers of Texas. The author has never known the bees to find nectar on the hackberry in the north, and was surprised at the many reports of honey from hackberry received from Texas beckeepers while visiting that State.
The granjeno **(Celtis pallida)** is a shrub common to the mesas and foothills of western and southern Texas. E. G. LeStourgeon, of San Antonio,regards it as the best of all the hackberries, blooming after every good rain. The honey is pale amber in color and of good quality. He reports that honey from all hackberries is of good quality. When the author visited at Brownsville, in February, 1918, the bees were working on the above species very freely at that time.
The Southern hackberry or sugarberry **(Celtis mississippiensis)** is common all over the Gulf and South Atlantic States from Kentucky and southern Illinois to Florida, Arkansas and central Texas. LeStourgeon reports that this species blooms after the others, in March and April, and that while it yields some honey, it is not as good as the others.
The Northern hackberry **(Celtis occidentalis)** is also known as sugarberry, and is common from New England and Ontario to Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and southward to Georgia and Texas. The author has never heard a report of bees visiting this species for nectar in the North, but it is reported also as a source of honey in Texas.
**HAU TREE (Paritium tiliacium).**
"The hau tree of Hawaii has nectaries on its leaves which secrete a honeydew. These are located on the veins of the leaves near the stem, and are one, two, three or five in number. Small drops of honeydew may frequently be seen on these spots. It is interesting to note that these extra-floral nectaries are present on the outside of the calyx of the flowers. There is apparently no true floral nectary. The hau tree is used extensively as a hedge, and grows from 20 to 30 feet high. It is doubtful whether this is the source of any great percentage of the honeydew honey."--E. F. Phillips, Jul. 75, Part 5, Bureau of Entomology.
**HAW, see Hawthorne.**
**HAWAII--Honey Flora of.**
The algarroba tree **(Prosopis juliiflora)** is either the same species as,or very closely related to, the mesquite of the southwest. On the islands it grows to the size of a tree, as is also the case in Mexico. In Texas it is generally very much smaller. In 1908 the tree came into bloom about the 1st of March, the time varying considerably in different localities on the islands. It usually blooms until August, and this very long blooning period adds greatly to its value to the beekeepers.
The following list of honey plants, other than algarroba, is furnished by Mr. D. L. Van Dine, Eutomologist of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station. Mr, Van Dine has studied the honey sources of the islands very thoroughly:
Forest Trees
"Texas mesquite **(Prosopis glandulosa)**. Growing in dooryard of Mr. C. C. Conradt, Pukoo, Island of Molokai. Seeds under propagation at Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station. Introduced by Mr. Conrad from Texas several years ago.
Ohia lehua **(Metrodsideros polymorpha)**. Produces a particularly high grade of honey, Locations for apiaries, as a rule, somewhat inaccessible. One location on the island of Molokai is within the ohia lehua belt.
Various species of Acacia (black wattle, koa, etc.) Mountainous districts.
Various species of eucalyptus. Mountainous districts.
Wiliwili **(Erythrina monosperma)**. In gulches on Molokai and Oahu.
Rose-apple **(Eugenia jambos)**.
Mamani **(Sophora chrysophylla)**. Found in higher forest belts.
Catalpa **(Catalpa speciosa and C. bignonioides)**. Introduced by Mr, Jared G. Smith, April, 1902, from the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Logwood **(Haematoxylon campechianum)**. _F_ound in dooryards. Two trees are growing in the grounds of Oahu College and one in the grounds of Lunallo Home, Honolulu. Seeds under propagation at Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station. The honey produced by bees from this tree is reported to be the finest table honey in the world.
The black mangrove of Florida. Introduced by Mr. Jared G. Smith from Southern Florida, for the purpose of preventing the mud flats from washing along the coast of Molokai, near Kaunakakakai. The introduction was made several years ago and the trees are now well established at the above-mentioned place. The tree is a valuable honey plant.
Fruit Trees
Various species of citrus (orange, lemon, lime, etc.)
Avocado **(Persea gratissima)**.
Banana **(Musa spp)**.
Guvy **(Psidium spp)**.
Louquet **(Eriobotrya japonica)**.
Tamarind **(Tamarindus indica)**.
Pasture Plants
California burr-clover **(Medicago denticulata)**. Introduced on Maul in 1882 by Mr. C. R. Blacow. Now found generally on the ranches of the islands.
Carpet grass **(Lippia repens)**. Growing on grounds of Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station.
Alfiralia or flarece **(Erodium cicutarium and E. moschatum)**.
Seeds introduced in California hay. Established on upland pastures on Hawaii and Molokai,
White clover (Trifolium repens). Found on Haleakala and Makawao pastures, Maui,
Crop Plants
Sisal (Agave sisalana).
Various species of curcurbits (melons, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc.)
Forage Plants.
Alfalfa, several varieties.
Lupins, blue and yellow. Occasionally used as green manure plants on sugar plantations.
Tangier pea (Lathyrus tingitanus). Growing at Haiku, Maui.
Sanfoin (Onobrychus sativa). A forage plant introduced by Mr. Jared G. Smith in 1904. Seed distributed to ranches.
Ornamental Plants
Palms, particularly the royal and cocoanut.
Poppy, a horticultural form of Romneya coulteri, found in gardens in Honolulu.
Chinese inkberry (Sestrum diurnum).
Thevitia nereifolia).
Vines (Ipomnea supp).
Lantana, two species..
California Sages (Artemisia). Introduced by Hawaiian Beckeepers' Association in 1907. Not as yet established. Suitable for waste, arid lands. The most important honey plant in California. Valuable as a forage plant.
Ilima (Sida spp).
Oi (Verbena bonariensis).
Pill grass (Heteropogon contortus).
Spanish needle (lauki) (Bidens pilosa).
Puakala (Argemone mexicana).
Alii (Dodonnea visoca var. spathulata).
Hilha hil (undetermined).
Other weeds are Waltheria americana, Ipomnea pes-caprae (vine along seacoast), and Malvastrum tricuspidatum.
Other Sources of Honey
Hawaii is peculiar in that most of the honey produced is from some source other than flowers. Two-thirds of the honey shipped annually from the islands is largely or entirely honeydew honey. By far the greater part of this comes from the exudations of the sugar cane leafhopper,--E. F. Phillips, Bul. 75, Part 3, Bureau of Entomology.
HAWTHORN (Crataegus).
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 have, some of which occur in Europe and Asian, 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 **(Cataegus 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.
Figure 69: The hawthorn blooms abundantly and yields nectar freely.
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, knoted, doorved, 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
Figure 4: The hazelnut is the source of some pollen.
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
Figure 11: Two species of heartsease or smartweed.
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 defec
Figure 72: Blossoms of the heather.
tive combs preserved for the purpose, and thus renew the wax of the brood area periodically. On account of the prouston 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 cells 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 apairaist only 18 cents per pond, heather frequently fetches him 36 cents. While, too, the other kind drags on
Figure 13: Hedge nettle.
(Photographed by Prof. Hottex,)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 I, 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 Newcomber. So we may readily call this the eldo-rado of bekeeping. 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 praaries. 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.
#### HEDGE NETTLE or WOUNDWORT (Stachys).
The hedge nettles are herbs with flowers in terminal spikes as shown in Fig. 75. The corollas are two-lipped and Stachys agaria is commonly known as "min" 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 Clever. 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 frequency 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
Figure 74: Harabound.
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. Bekeepers 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, uixed 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 Missisippi 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 Southeastern, is known in Texas as possum law 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 gallery **(Ilex glaba)** 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 cagerly, and apparently it secretes nectar freely.
## Appendix A American Honey Plants
### 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 bekeeping literature. A few are given here to indicate the extent to which bees gather this insect product:
"The most copious flow of honeydew 1 ever saw was in 1897. It was from the pinc. 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 pinc 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 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.
**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).**