There are many grasses which are attractive to the bees for pollen.
Timothy or herd’s grass produces pollen in great abundance and the bees
are often observed gathering it. Occasionally some honeydew may be
gathered from the grasses also, but no honey.
GREASEWOOD (Adenostema fasciculatum). CHAMISE.
Greasewood is an evergreen bush or shrub of spreading habit about two
to ten feet in height. Jepson describes it as “the most abundant and
characteristic bush of the higher coast ranges and Sierra Nevada,
commonly gregarious and occupying, to the exclusion of other shrubs,
extensive and especially abrupt slopes and mountain ridges. It often
forms a distinct zone between the foothills and the yellow pine belt.”
Richter lists it as eagerly sought by the bees in several California
counties, though no mention is made of it as a source of surplus honey.
GREENBRIAR (Smilax).
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 McLennan 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 candied 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 gum 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Gumweed, or rosin weed, of the Great Plains.]
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 beekeepers 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, Bul. 75, Part 5, Bureau of Entomology.
HAW, see Hawthorne.
HAWAII--Honey Flora of.
The algarroba tree (=Prosopis juliflora=) 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 blooming 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, Entomologist of the Hawaii Agricultural
Experiment Station. Mr. Van Dine has studied the honey sources of the
islands very thoroughly: