There are several species of centaurea which yield nectar. The common
corn-flower of the gardens (=Centaurea Cyanus=), also known as
blue-bottle, bluet, ragged sailor or batchelor’s button, is a good
honey plant. The bees work upon it from morning till night, though it
is seldom sufficiently abundant to be important as a source of surplus.
Richter lists this species from California as commonly cultivated. He
also lists the Napa thistle, or tacalote (=Centaurea melitensis=), as
yielding some honey of light amber color, good flavor and fair body.
This species is known in the southeastern States as Lombardy star
thistle. (See Star Thistle.)
[Illustration: Fig. 37. The century plant is slow to bloom, but is a
striking sight when it does so.]
CENTURY PLANT (Agave).
The agaves are an important group of long-lived perennial plants native
to Tropical America, Mexico and, to some extent, to the southwestern
United States. Each plant has a cluster of numerous fleshy leaves and,
when blooming, a tall flower stalk. There are at least five species
native to the United States. The range is southern New Mexico, Arizona
and California. The best known is the common century plant (=Agave
americana=), an introduced species, cultivated for ornament. This is a
conspicuous figure of ornamental planting in southern California.
In Mexico some species of agaves furnish fibre, while others are the
source of pulque and mescal, intoxicating drinks much used in the
country below the Rio Grande.
The plants do not bloom until they are several years old. The flower
stalks grow very rapidly and reach a height of 25 or 30 feet within
a few weeks’ time. When in bloom they secrete nectar in abundance,
and the bees swarm over them in great numbers. As will be seen by the
illustration, the flower stalks support innumerable blossoms, so that a
single plant will yield a considerable amount of honey. The fact that
the plants are nowhere abundant in this country, together with the long
period which must elapse before they bloom, makes it improbable that
they will ever be of much importance to American beekeepers.
CEPHALANTHUS, see Button Bush.
CHAMISE, see Greasewood.
CHAPMAN HONEY PLANT (Echinops sphoerocephalus).
The Chapman honey plant was introduced from France about 1885. The
bee journals of 1886 and 1887 devote a large amount of space to a
discussion of this plant. It was brought prominently to the attention
of American beekeepers by Hiram Chapman, of Versailles, New York, who
planted about three acres of it at that place. He made such glowing
reports of the plant at the National Beekeepers’ Convention that a
committee of prominent men was appointed to visit the Chapman home and
report on the new plant at the convention of the following year. They
made a lengthy and very favorable report, which is published in full on
page 28 of the American Bee Journal for January 5, 1887.
Numerous beekeepers secured seed, and so attractive did the plant prove
to the bees that favorable reports appeared frequently in the columns
of the journals for the next few years. However, the great expectations
were not realized, for it soon disappeared, and is seldom mentioned
in current literature. The following quotation from Dr. C. C. Miller,
which appeared in Gleanings, in December, 1918, is probably a correct
estimate of the value of the plant:
“After reading the British Bee Journal of September 26, I should
have made a vigorous effort to secure a supply of seed of =Echinops
Sphoerocephalus=, if I had no previous experience with the plant.
No bee plant that I have ever grown was so attractive to the bees.
Whenever the weather was favorable the heads were crowded. I have
counted fourteen or fifteen bees on one at the same time.”
This is the Chapman honey plant that had a big boom in this country a
number of years ago; but it is not heard of now, and is not included
among the honey plants in the bee books. Upon its introduction I
planted quite a patch of it, and like Mr. Harwood, I never saw the
bees so thick on any other plant. But close observation showed that
the bees were not in eager haste in their usual way when getting a
big yield, but were in large part idle. It looked a little as if the
plant had some kind of stupefying effect on them. At any rate, I
should not take the trouble to plant it now, if land and seed were
furnished free.
CHAYOTE (Sechium edule).
Chayote is a vegetable of the squash family, commonly grown in the
American Tropics. It is found in Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico and other
countries in that latitude. There has been some discussion of the plant
in the bee magazines and occasionally the plants have been grown in
American gardens. That it is a valuable honey plant there can be but
little doubt. J. J. Siebert, writing from Porto Rico to the American
Bee Journal, says that it is all that it is claimed to be, and that
as a source of nectar it has only one rival, the banana, blossoming
all the year round. The following is from the U. S. Department of
Agriculture. Bulletin No. 28:
“As in other vegetables of the squash family, the stamens and
pistils are in separate flowers, pollination taking place through
the agency of insects. To attract these, the flowers of both kinds,
but especially the pistillate, yield abundant nectar, which is
secreted in ten glands, two at the base of each of the lobes of the
corolla. In most of the countries into which it has been introduced,
beekeeping has not been a regular industry, and the value of the
chayote as a source of honey has not been noticed, but the reports of
experimenters in New South Wales contain very emphatic statements on
the subject:
‘When the plant is in flower I have noticed that the vines were
swarming with bees, and as flowers are scarce in the autumn, the
plant will no doubt be valuable as a honey-producer.
‘The plant, which spreads over a large area, commenced flowering
at the close of the year, and has been well laden with mellifluous
blossoms ever since. The bees are extremely fond of the chocho, and
with the apiarist the newly-introduced plant must become a strong
favorite.’
“The chayote differs from many cucurbitaceae in producing numerous
flowers on each fertile branch. It has long been known that the
flowers of this family are rich in honey, but from the standpoint of
the beekeeper they have been considered of little importance, because
seldom accessible in sufficient amount, though in the United States
fields are recognized as good bee pastures. The chayote seems to
make up by numbers what the flowers lack in size, so that the yield
of honey may be larger than in related plants. In addition to this
there is the fact that Sechium is a perennial bloomer in the Tropics,
and in the sub-tropical regions has a very long season. It is thus
possible that in the regions like parts of Florida, where beekeeping
is already an established industry, the honey-producing qualities of
the chayote may be found of practical account in connection with its
other utilities.”
CHEROKEE ROSE (Rosa laevigata).
The Cherokee rose is found from the Coast Region of the South Atlantic
States westward through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to
eastern Texas. It occurs also in California. It was in Alabama that the
author first heard it mentioned as a source of nectar. Later reports
from California indicated that bees sometimes find nectar from this
source, though most of the roses yield only pollen. H. B. Parks states
that he has observed the bees getting honey from this source, and M.
B, Talley, of Victoria, Texas, states that he has observed the bees
gathering nectar from it in Mississippi and also at Victoria. It is
probably of little importance, unless it be as a source of pollen.
CHERRY (Prunus cerasus).
The cultivated cherry is closely related to the plum and is equally
attractive to the bees. Both bloom at about the same time. In
California the cherry is reported as one of the best of the fruit
trees for honey production. In the East it is valued principally for
stimulating early brood-rearing.
When the weather is warm and bright during its period of bloom a great
variety of insects may be found on the blossoms. Bees are seldom strong
enough to store surplus from cherry. (See also Wild Cherry.)
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Cherry blossoms.]
CHESTNUT (Castanea dentata).
The chestnut is an important timber tree from northern New England and
Ontario to Michigan and along the mountains to Georgia. It is a tall
and slender tree in the forests, but a magnificent spreading shade tree
when grown with sufficient room. It sometimes reaches a height of 90 to
100 feet.
As a source of nectar it is probably nowhere important, though it
yields pollen in June or July. E. E. Hasty, writing in the American Bee
Journal, from Toledo, Ohio, (Sept., 1906), reports that there the bees
roar on chestnut bloom, even when basswood blooms at the same time.
It is frequently listed as a source of honey, but the author can find
no authoritative records of surplus stored from it.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Bloom of China-tree.]
CHINABERRY, see Wild China.
CHINA TREE (Melia azedarach).
The China tree, also known as pride of India, is a native of the Far
East, probably coming from China. It has become naturalized in the
Southeastern States from the Atlantic Coast to Texas. It is found as
far north as Arkansas and Virginia.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. The chinquapin.]
H. B. Parks reports that in Texas it is a fairly good honey plant,
blooming very early in the season. On account of its early blooming,
it is principally valuable to stimulate early brood rearing.
This tree should not be confused with the Wild China, which see.
CHINESE SUMAC, see Varnish Tree.
CHINQUAPIN (Castanea pumila).
The chinquapin is a shrub or small tree common from New Jersey and
southern Pennsylvania southward to Missouri and Texas. It is well known
to the beekeepers in parts of Alabama, Georgia and north Florida, where
it flowers in May. In Arkansas, it is a large tree, reaching a height
of fifty feet in some cases.
In some localities beekeepers report good crops of honey from
chinquapin, but the quality is inferior. It is dark and strong, with
a bitter taste. Some use it for feeding to replace the better grades
of honey which may be taken from the bees. In color it looks like New
Orleans molasses, and a sample, in the author’s collection for several
years, shows no tendency to granulation.
CHITTAM, see Buckthorn.
CHOCTAW ROOT, see Dogbane.
CHOKE CHERRY, see Wild Cherry.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. The Christmas berry, or California holly.]
CHRISTMAS BERRY, or CALIFORNIA HOLLY (Heteromeles arbutifolia).
The Christmas berry is known also as toy-on or tollon berry, as
well as California holly. It is common along the streams and on the
mountain-sides of California, where it flowers in June and July. It
has white flowers and the bright red berries ripen in late autumn. The
berries, according to C. D. Stuart, are acid and slightly astringent,
though not unpleasant. He states that the berries were eaten by the
Indians as a kind of salad, and that a wine-red drink is sometimes made
from them after an old Spanish-Californian recipe. The plant is much
used for Christmas decoration on the Pacific Coast.
According to Richter, the plant is the source of a thick amber honey
of decided flavor, which candies with a coarse grain, within two or
three months after extraction. He reports surplus from this source in
Monterey, Colusa and Nevada Counties, California.
Jepson gives the range as “Throughout the coast ranges and Sierra
Nevada, and southward to southern and Lower California. Frequent along
streams and gulches in the lower hills, and also abundant on stony
slopes at middle elevations, especially from Napa to Humboldt Counties.
At Visalia the author heard reports of an average of a case per colony
of surplus honey from this source in the mountains.
CITRUS FRUITS, see Oranges, Lemons, Etc.