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 5, 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.
[Illustration: Fig. 69. The hawthorn blooms abundantly and yields
nectar freely.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 70. The hazelnut is the source of some pollen.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 71. Two species of heartsease or smartweed.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 72. Blossoms of the heather.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 73. Hedge nettle.
(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.
[Illustration: Fig. 74. Hoarhound.]
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.