The white clematis is commonly known by the name of virgin’s bower, but
also has several other local names, such as love vine, traveler’s joy
and devil’s hair. Fig. 42 shows the delicate white blossoms and the
leaf, and Fig. 43 shows a mass of vines on a roadside fence.
The range of the plant is from Nova Scotia and Ontario west to Lake
Winnipeg and Nebraska and south to Louisiana and Florida. It may be
expected almost anywhere east of the Mississippi River. It is a slender
climbing vine on the borders of woods, roadsides and hedgerows. The
blossoms are white and fragrant, blooming in midsummer. It is much
sought by the bees, and apparently produces considerable nectar. It is
doubtful whether the plant is anywhere sufficiently abundant to make an
appreciable difference in the production of the hive.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Blossom and leaf of white clematis.]
Richter, in his “Honey Plants of California,” reports a related
species, the hill clematis, (=Clematis ligusticifolia=), as common in
the hilly districts almost throughout California. It is said to produce
“a great deal of pollen and probably some honey,” but it is not known
to produce surplus. Common also in the Rocky Mountains.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. White clematis on a roadside fence.]
CLEOME, see Rocky Mountain Bee Plant.
CLEOMELLA (Cleomella angustifola).
The Cleomella is very similar to the Rocky Mountain bee plant, or
cleome. The flowers are small and yellow and the plant does not grow so
tall as the cleome.
An Oklahoma beekeeper reports as follows:
“It seems to be a remarkable honey plant. It was in bloom for more
than ten weeks during the dry season, and bees worked upon it freely
every morning. The blossom is very fragrant, sweet, yellow, and is
at the branches. It keeps crowding out a new growth and blooming,
forming small purse-shaped seed pods as the blossoms drop. The growth
is much like sweet clover or yellow mustard, but forming a larger
spreading top. Some plants grow four feet tall and three feet across
and an inch through at the butt. It is an annual, and no stock will
eat it.”--M. S. Hubbell, Helena, Okla. American Bee Journal.
Cleomella is found from Nebraska to Utah and south to Texas.
CLETHRA, see Pepperbush.
CLIMBING MILKWEED, see Bluevine.
CLOVER (Trifolium).
The clovers are by far the most important American honey plants. If we
include the closely related alfalfa and sweet clover, they probably are
the source of more surplus honey than all the other plants together.
They are to be found in nearly every part of America and yield
nectar more freely than most plants. The quality of clover honey is
of the best and in quantity of yield it ranks high, under favorable
conditions. If the whole group was to be removed, honey production as a
commercial proposition would decline to a very large degree.
Clover seems to yield most heavily in the northern part of its range
and gradually declines southward. White clover is the most important
of the group. Alsike is quite as valuable where equally abundant. The
corolla tubes of red clover are usually too deep for the honeybee to
reach the nectar, but occasionally some honey is secured from this
source. (See Red Clover). Each of the clovers is considered separately.
(See White Clover, Alsike, etc.)
COCKLEBUR (Xanthium canadense).
The cocklebur is a coarse weed, common in fields and waste places from
Louisiana. In Texas, Scholl lists the plant as a source of pollen in
clinging to clothing and to the hairs of horses and cattle.
There is an occasional report of honey from this source, especially
from Louisiana. In Texas, Scholl lists the plant as a source of pollen
in late fall.
COFFEE BERRY, see Buckthorn.
COLIMA (Xanthoxylum pterota).
Colima is a species of prickly ash common to the valley of the lower
Rio Grande River. It is a small shrub with zigzag branches, armed with
short curved thorns. The flowers are in axillary clusters.
Colima is reported as yielding but a light flow, of principal value for
stimulative purposes. At Mathis, Texas, Wm. Atchley reports that he
had a good surplus flow from colima in 1900. The honey was golden and
very thick, weighing 12¹⁄₂ pounds to the gallon. The flavor was good.
Although he kept bees in that vicinity for a number of years he secured
surplus from Colima but the one time. (See also Prickly Ash).
COLORADO--Honey Plants of.
Practically all surplus is secured from alfalfa and sweet clover, with
an occasional crop from cleome. The rosin weed (=Grindelia squarrosa=)
yields considerable honey of low grade which often spoils the grade
of the white honey by being mixed in the supers. Narcissus, parsley
and prairie clover are prairie plants which attract the bees freely.
Wild onion yields some honey. Dandelion and fruit bloom are important
for spring brood rearing and canteloupes yield some surplus in the
Rock Ford region. Sunflowers, mentzelia, lupines and loco weeds add
something to the sum total brought to the hives. The white clematis
is very common along the streams, as are willows. Wild currant is
common in the mountain canyons. =Gaura coccinea=, the red gaura or
ragged lady, is much sought by the bees for both honey and pollen.
Oreocarya is a desert plant which yields surplus, but which is rapidly
disappearing through cultivation of the land on which it grows.
[Illustration: Fig. 44. A white clover field in Iowa.]
COLUMBO, see Monument Plant.
COMA (Bumelia lycioides).
Coma is the Mexican name for southern buckthorn (=Bumelia lycioides=),
which is found from Florida north to Virginia and west to Texas. It
is also known as ironwood. It is a spiny shrub with flowers in dense
clusters. In South Texas it is also known as coma and is frequently
reported as an important source of honey. It blooms there from October
to February and produces nectar freely. At Rio Hondo, in the lower
Rio Grande Valley, beekeepers reported to the author that a flow of
six weeks from coma, from September to November, was common, and that
swarms issuing as late as December had gathered sufficient honey from
this source to carry them through. The honey is said to be light amber
in color and of good quality. The flow varies greatly, depending upon
the rains. (See also Gum-elastic.)
[Illustration: Coma in bloom. This species (_Bumelia angustifolia_) is
abundant from Pearsall, Texas, to the Rio Grande River, blooming from
October to February, and is the best of the group.]
CONE FLOWER (Rudbeckia).
The cone flowers, also called golden glow, are not often mentioned as
honey plants, yet the bees visit them freely and apparently they are
the source of some nectar. The plants are widely distributed east of
the Missouri River and are probably of limited local importance.
CONNECTICUT--Honey Sources of.
The clovers, alsike and white clover, occur all over Connecticut
and yield nectar freely. Goldenrod and asters are also important.
Buckwheat, wild raspberry and milkweeds all yield surplus under
favorable conditions. Basswood, locust maple and clethra are among the
valuable trees and shrubs. Fruit bloom, willow, etc., are important in
early spring. Some honey from tobacco is reported in Connecticut.
CORAL BEAN or FRIJOLILLO (Sophora secundiflora).
The coral bean is a small tree common along the streams of Texas and
New Mexico, and southward to the interior of Mexico. The Mexicans call
it frijolillo. The beans are said by Coulter to be used by the Indians
as an intoxicant. The beans are round and red and as large as small
marbles. They contain a powerful poisonous alkaloid. Some beekeepers
have expressed a fear that the honey might be poisonous to the bees,
though apparently there is little grounds for such fear. The tree is
abundant along the Nueces River in the shade of larger timber and was
yielding nectar very freely at the time of the author’s visit to that
section on March 10, 1918. There had been a long dearth of nectar and
the bees were extremely short of both honey and pollen. The new nectar
was coming in in considerable quantity and the honey stored had a
peculiar flavor. The tree is particularly abundant in the vicinity of
Matagorda Bay.
CORAL BERRY, see Indian Currant.
CORAL SUMAC, see Poisonwood.
CORN, see Indian Corn.
CORNEL, see Dogwood.
CORN-ITCH, see Cow-itch.
COTTON (Gossypium herbaceum).
Although the cotton plant is found growing wild in many warm countries,
in the United States it is known only as a staple field crop. It
was brought to this country as early as 1621, and has been the
most important plant grown on southern plantations since the early
development of the country.
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Blossoms of the cotton plant. (U. S. Department
of Agriculture.)]
The plant thrives in a warm and humid climate, and needs five to
six months of warm weather. However, it is grown successfully under
semi-arid conditions in parts of Texas and other Southern States. The
so-called cotton belt extends from the northwest corner of Texas south
to the Rio Grande, and east to the Atlantic seaboard. A limited acreage
is grown in California, but, excepting very restricted areas, it is not
important outside the territory mentioned. Texas, Mississippi, Alabama
and Georgia are perhaps the most important of the cotton-growing
States. The Carolinas, Louisiana and Oklahoma also grow it in large
areas.
Honey production reaches its highest development in localities where
good nectar-bearing plants are grown in large acreage. Hence we find
beekeeping thriving in dairy communities, where alsike and white clover
are grown abundantly. We also find the beekeepers prosperous where
alfalfa is an important crop. In the Southern States, cotton is the one
field crop grown on a sufficient scale to offer ideal conditions for
the beekeeper. However, cotton is fickle in its behavior, and cannot
always be depended upon to produce nectar, no matter how abundant the
crop. In some cotton-growing districts the beekeepers swear by cotton,
while in other localities they declare that it is of little value.
The character of the soil seems to be a very important factor in the
secretion of nectar by this plant. The vigor of the growth and the
amount of available plant food in the soil are also important. Reports
from different sections indicate that the quality of the honey varies
in different sections.
W. D. Null, of Demopolis, Ala., wrote to the author as follows:
“This, you know, was for sixty years the heaviest cotton-growing
section in the nation. Bees will not work cotton if they can work
anything else, even bitterweed. It yields honey of very poor quality,
and never very much, some years none at all. Weather conditions must
be just right, and that don’t come often. The honey is the same grade
as the most honeydews.”
In contrast, we find the following report of good honey and abundant
yield in American Bee Journal for 1907, page 267:
“Cotton blossoms furnish a great deal of excellent honey, and
the theory that it explodes or ferments is all bosh. It makes an
excellent rich honey, oily, and it is not liked so well by some until
they get used to it.”--Jules Belknap, M. D., Sulphur Springs, Ark.
When the writer made his first trip through Georgia he was much puzzled
by the different reports of apparently good observers in different
parts of the State. The matter was finally explained by a beekeeper
who had lived in different localities, by the variation in behavior of
the plant under different conditions. There is perhaps no important
honey plant which varies so much, in the quality of its nectar, as does
cotton. The poor quality in some places can doubtless be explained
by the fact that the flow is not abundant, and is mixed with other
low-grade stores. However, honey dew is also sometimes reported from
the plant itself.
“Sometimes, during a damp spell, the cotton gets covered with vast
numbers of aphis, and the upper side of the leaves will first get
gummy and then will even drip a kind of dirty-looking sweet fluid. If
there is anything else on hand the bees will not touch it.”--W. H.
Alder, Callahan County, Texas, page 334, American Bee Journal, 1899.
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Honey plant regions of Texas.]
It is needless to say that this would make a poor product, and it
is not improbable that honeydew is sometimes secured from cotton in
localities where it seldom yields nectar. The secretion is apparently
dependent far more upon soil than upon any other condition. Upon
the black, wavy lands of Texas and upon other soils, it reaches its
highest development. The boundary of the belt, where cotton yields
freely and where it does not, is very marked in Texas. North of the
escarpment which runs across Bexar County, Texas, near San Antonio,
it is an important source. South of that line few beekeepers report
it as dependable. North of this line the soil is black and heavy;
south it is sandy. Wherever the writer has found beekeepers on sandy
soil, they have reported the yield from cotton as uncertain; while
on the heavy soils they report it as fairly constant, with suitable
weather conditions. The map shown herewith, Fig. 46, roughly outlines
the heavy section where honey from cotton is important in Texas.
Cotton is grown east, south and, to some extent, west of that line. In
east Texas cotton is reported as yielding well on river bottom lands
and but little on the hills. In the southern sections, and also in
other States, an occasional crop is reported where it does not yield
regularly:
“We had a very dry, sultry spell here the latter part of last August,
and up to that time the bees were living from hand to mouth. All at
once they began storing from the cotton bloom, though it looked as
though cotton was going to die in the fields from drought and heat,
yet it yielded until the bees had stored from 30 to 60 pounds per
colony.”--J. J. Wilder, Cordele, Ga., American Bee Journal, page 141,
1906.
On suitable soils it is one of the most dependable sources of nectar:
“The apiarist who has his bees located within range of extensive
cotton areas can count on at least an average crop year after year,
with more certainty than many of the other numerous honey yielders
which we have.”--Louis Scholl, page 652, Gleanings, 1912.
“My main sources for surplus are mesquite trees, the cotton fields
being the second of importance in the central and northern parts of
the State, or throughout the black land region. On sandy or light
soil cotton yields very little honey. * * *
“The yield is good, averaging about 73 pounds of bulk comb honey per
year. One year it was over 100 pounds. Honey from cotton is very
light in color, the comb very white, and of excellent flavor when
well ripened. As soon as cool weather sets in this honey fairly draws
out in long strings, when handled with a spoon.”--Gleanings, page
1313, 1907.
From the above it will be seen that cotton honey is of good quality, at
least in some localities Samples said to be from cotton from Georgia,
are strong and of rather poor quality, while cotton honey received from
Texas is light in color, of mild and rather pleasing flavor. The honey
from Cotton granulates very quickly. That produced in the Southeastern
States also has the effect of bursting the containers, possibly from
the effects of fermentation. The humidity of the atmosphere evidently
has a marked effect on the quality of the honey from this plant. The
following reports indicate the quality:
“As to the quality of cotton honey, I can say from my own experience,
that it varies in color from light amber to almost water white. While
I do not consider it equal to white clover in flavor, it is superior
to basswood. * * * The flow increases toward the last of the season,
and if we can get two weeks of nice weather after frost it amounts
to a considerable increase in the crop.”--J. D. Yancey, Hunt County,
Texas. Gleanings, page 162, 1910.
“It did well on our rich bottom land and yielded a fair crop of the
finest honey it was ever my pleasure to see. It was so thick that it
was almost impossible to extract it, and entirely out of the question
to strain it through a single thickness of cheese-cloth. It was light
in color, mild in flavor, and very heavy, and in my opinion superior
to any honey ever shipped to this locality, not excepting huijilla.
The long drought and consequent absence of all other bloom, enabled
us to get a purer cotton honey than we had ever been able to get
before. Again, in the late fall, when the weather began to get cool,
our cotton took a second growth, soon blooming profusely, and by
accident we got also a fair fall crop.”--O. Saunders, Trenton, Texas.
Page 734, Gleanings, 1910.
One great advantage of the cotton flow is its long continuation. In
Texas it begins to bloom in May or June, and the bees work it steadily
until late fall, often November. Extra cultivation or fertilization
of the soil increases the vigor of the plant and the nectar flow is
increased accordingly:
“I can remember when the bees gathered only enough nectar from it
to stimulate brood rearing, and now we get from one to three supers
of surplus from this source alone. * * * On land where we used to
make a bale of cotton to 4 or 5 acres, now we make 1 to 2 bales per
acre, using high grades of commercial fertilizer and more prolific
varieties of the plant. It yields more where it grows best, and of a
much longer duration.”--J. J. Wilder, Cordele, Ga. Page 237, American
Bee Journal, 1911.
Bees get nectar not only from the cotton blossoms, but from extra
floral nectaries as well. At times almost entirely, and to gather
freely they seem to neglect the blossoms for the extra-floral
nectaries. Some of these are located under the flower and begin to
secrete nectar before the blossoms open. Others are located on the
under sides of the leaves, and vary from one to three on each leaf.
When atmospheric conditions are favorable, these glands secrete
abundantly and the nectar gathers in drops. At times it is so abundant
that the men cultivating get their clothes saturated with the nectar,
from the brushing of the leaves against them. Later in the day the
heat of the sun evaporates most of the moisture, leaving the clothing
sticky. In hot and dry weather the flow is on in the morning and again
in the evening, while in cloudy or damp weather it lasts all day.
When first gathered, the honey is said to be very thin and clear,
with a strong and nauseating taste, resembling the taste of the plant
itself. As the moisture is evaporated and the nectar ripens in the hive
this disagreeable taste is lost to a large extent. During a heavy flow
a strong odor is frequently present in the apiary, which can be noticed
at some distance from the hives. Scholl compares this odor to that of
crushed cotton leaves. He reports that at times it becomes so strong
as to have a sickening effect on the apiarist, even interfering with
his work, on calm days.
The heaviest flows come from rank-growing plants on rich soils, during
warm and wet weather. At such times the honey is lighter in color and
superior in quality, while the honey stored from plants growing on
light soils during dry weather is darker and strong in taste.
Pollen from the cotton plant is white in color, and is produced in
abundance from the large bell-shaped flowers. When the bloom first
opens it is white, later turning pink.
COTTON-GUM, see Tupelo.
COTTONWOOD, see Aspen.
COW-ITCH (Cissus incisa).
The cow-itch is a climbing vine found from the coast of Florida to
western Texas and north to southern Arkansas. In south Texas it is
called “yerba del buey,” according to Coulter.
Scholl states that it “yields sufficiently to keep the bees out of
mischief during a dearth, and giving surplus when abundant.” At Buffalo
and Palestine, Texas, the author found reports to the effect that
cow-itch was a heavy yielder of nectar, bees beginning on it as soon as
the basswood bloom closed. It blooms from June till October, with fruit
in all stages. The honey was reported to be light amber in color and of
good flavor. R. A. Nestor reported that he had secured as high as 35 to
40 pounds of surplus per colony from this source mixed with partridge
pea. It is also called corn-itch.
COWPEA (Vigna sinensis).
The cowpea is widely cultivated in the warmer regions of the old world
and in our own Southern States. It is grown for forage and for green
manure. The plant is more closely related to the beans than to the peas.
R. A. Nestor reports that it yields freely in east Texas, and where
planted in sufficient acreage yields surplus. The honey is very dark in
color, but of mild flavor, according to his report.
The nectar from cowpeas is secreted by extra floral nectaries and
beekeepers are often mystified because the bees are working at the
“joints” instead of on the flowers. Some report that bees gather nectar
from the flowers, also.
The following reports indicate the value in different localities:
“There is no finer honey plant than the cowpea, while it lasts,
but it blooms only about a week. During this time, if the weather
is fair, the bees swarm over the fields from early morn till dewey
eve.”--J. D. Rowan, Tupelo, Miss. Gleanings, Sept. 15, 1909.
“The cowpea is one of our most abundant sources of honey for late
summer. The crop is planted here from May 1 to August 1, and
furnishes nectar through a considerable period of otherwise scarcity.
Unlike other plants, the stems, and not the blossoms, secrete the
nectar as the young pods are forming. These the bees work upon
excessively. The honey is of good body, thick, deep, approaching dark
yellow in color, and of strong taste like that of tulip-poplar, only
stronger, with a somewhat slight, wild-green-bean-like flavor.”--C.
C. Gettys, Hollis, N. C. Gleanings, Sept. 14, 1909.
“A small patch of peas was covered with bees from morning till night.
Nearly all of them were working on the stalks, as usual; but here
and there I saw a few Italians pushing their tongues down into the
blossoms. I have never noticed any pollen from the field peas.”--Mrs.
Ameda Ellis, Fremont, Mo. Gleanings, June 1, 1910.
“The peas bloom when there is a honey dearth and the bees gather
honey from them. However, I notice they do not work on them much if
there is a better honey plant blooming at the same time. My bees get
a good deal of nice honey from them.”--G. H. Latham, Jr., Rapidan,
Va. Gleanings, May 15, 1910.
COYOTE WEED, see Turkey Mullein.
CRAB APPLE (Malus).
There are several species of wild crab apples native to America. The
fruit is small and sour and of little value. The blossoms are rose
colored and very fragrant, making the tree worthy of cultivation as
an ornamental. As a source of honey the wild crab apple ranks with
the cultivated apple and other fruit trees. The blossoms appear from
March to May and serve to stimulate spring brood rearing, though where
abundant, strong colonies may gather some surplus.
The southern crab apple (=Malus angustifolia=) occurs in open woods
from southern Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to Louisiana and
Missouri.
The American crab apple (=Malus coronaria=) is common from eastern
Canada to Michigan and south to Alabama and South Carolina. It is a
small tree and often grows in dense thickets, where it furnishes ideal
bee pasturage.
The Soulard crab apple (=Malus soulardi=) is much like the American
crab apple in tree and flower, but has a larger fruit, which leads some
authors to regard it as a hybrid between the cultivated apple and a
native species. It is sometimes cultivated for its fruit, which is used
as a substitute for quince. It occurs in the wild state from Minnesota
to Texas, but not very common.
The Oregon crab apple (=Malus diversifolia=), is a native of the
Pacific Coast from Alaska through Western Canada south to California.
The fruit was formerly dried by the Indians for winter use.
All the wild crab apples are valuable sources of nectar, though the
principal value is to stimulate early brood rearing.
CRIMSON CLOVER (Trifolium incarnatum).
Crimson clover is grown in the Southern States, but is not hardy in the
North. It is an earlier bloomer than the other clovers. The blossoms
are more showy than either alsike or red clover. The plant is an
annual, and must be resown to perpetuate a field.
The honey yield is reported to be good and the quality similar to that
of the other clovers. It is nowhere grown on the scale of the others,
so is not so-well known as a source of honey.
Bonnier gives it third rank as a honey yielder, while the British Bee
Journal states that it is about on a par with buckwheat, and that
neither is satisfactory when honey of later yield is worked for.
Niswonger lists it as a very important plant in Kentucky, and states
that the honey is of a very light yellow color of good quality.
[Illustration: Fig. 47. Crocus blossoms are among the first to furnish
pollen in spring.]