There are about eight species of hemizonia or tarweeds in California.
(Fig. 135.) Of these Richter lists three as sources of honey and
indicates that others may also be of importance. The tarweed
(=Hemizonia fasciculata=) is reported as common over a large part of
southern California, except on the desert, and north to San Francisco.
The blooming period is given from June to August and the honey is said
to be dark amber with strong aroma. He states that it is an excellent
producer, especially along the coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego,
and that the honey is largely used in the manufacture of chewing
tobacco and shoe blacking.
The yellow tarweed (=Hemizonia virgata=) is said to be common in the
interior valleys and to be a “heavy and consistent yielder, beginning
in August and lasting for about twenty days, according to Mr. B. B.
Hogaboom of Elk Grove.” The honey is stated to be of light yellow
color, good flavor and heavy body.
[Illustration: Fig. 135. Tarweed blossoms.]
The coast tarweed (=Hemizonia corymbosa=) is reported as yielding some
honey, but not nearly as much as the foregoing species.
In Fresno County tarweed, known as yellow-tops, is stated to bloom from
April to June and to yield an occasional surplus. The name vinegar
weed is sometimes applied to tarweed in the San Joaquin Valley.--Honey
Plants of California.
TEASEL (Dipsacus fullonum). FULLER’S TEASEL.
Fuller’s teasel is a European plant which was for a time cultivated
in this country for the heads of stiff chaff with hooked points, used
for raising the nap upon woolen cloth. Although no longer mentioned as
a cultivated plant, it has escaped from cultivation and persists as a
weed in some places.
During the time when it was generally cultivated in some parts of
New York, the late G. M. Doolittle secured more than $1,000 per year
from less than 100 colonies, credited with being largely from teasel.
(American Bee Journal, July 21, 1886.) The high price of teasel in the
market led to a great boom for a few years. A beekeeper writing in the
American Bee Journal in 1878 stated that the honey-yielding qualities
of teasel were equal to basswood. He described the flavor of the honey
as excellent, the color white and transparent. Reports of carloads
of teasel honey shipped to Thurber & Co., are referred to and the
statement made that it is one of the greatest honey-producing plants in
existence.
In the same Journal (Aug. 18, 1886), G. M. Doolittle writes a long
article giving the history and cultivation of the plant. From this
article the following extracts are taken:
“Bees work on teasel all hours of the day, and no matter how well
basswood may yield honey, a few bees will be found at work on teasel.
A bee that works on teasel is readily distinguished from those that
work on basswood, by the abdomen being covered with a white dust.
Black and hybrid bees work on it in larger proportion than the
Italians.”
“The honey from teasel is very thin and white, in fact the whitest
honey I ever saw; but it is not of as good flavor as either clover
or basswood. This thinness of the nectar, and its coming just when
basswood does is the great drawback to it. From careful tests I
should say that it would take about four bee-loads of it to be equal
to one bee-load of nectar gathered from basswood. Coming as it does
with basswood, makes it of no great advantage, except that it usually
lasts six to ten days after basswood is gone.
“Again, my bees have to fly two to ten miles to get this nectar, as
I am on the southern edge of the teasel belt. According to those who
believe bees fly only 1¹⁄₂ to 2 miles for honey, I should not get
anything from teasel. I have repeatedly seen my bees flying to and
from the teasel fields from our church door, which is 2¹⁄₂ miles from
my apiary in line with the fields.
“As to what proportion of my honey has come from teasel the past
fifteen years, I should say about one-tenth; some years more and some
years not a single pound. In 1877 I got the largest crop, while from
1878 to 1884 little if any was obtained.”
TENDRIL-BEARING SMARTWEED, see Brunnichia.
TENNESSEE--Honey Flora of.
From a special circular sent to the largest beekeepers of the State,
asking them to give the names of the chief nectar-producing flowers
of their section, the following was gained. The list given below is
arranged in order of importance in the estimation of these practical
beekeepers:
White clover.
Poplar.
Linden or basswood.
Sourwood.
Aster.
Black locust.
Chestnut.
Goldenrod.
Stickweed.
Red Clover.
Persimmon.
Alsike clover.
Cowpeas.
Tanglefoot (aster).
Sumac.
Maple.
Black gum.
Alfalfa.
Melilotus.
Cotton.
Corn.
Wireweed.
Boneset.
Buckbrush.
Huckleberry.
Whortleberry.
Elm.
Yellow-wood.
Daisy fleabane.
Heartsease.
Cane.
Crowfoot moss.
Willows.
Bitterweed.
Turnip.
Dandelion.
Strawberry.
Pea wood.
Cottonwood.
Cedar.
Blackberry.
Catnip.
Fruit berries.
Aspen.
Raspberry.
Oak.
Spanish needle.
--G. M. Bentley, Tennessee Board of Entomology, Bulletin No. 9.
TEUCRIUM, see Germander.
TEXAN EBONY (Siderocarpos flexicaulis).
Texan ebony is a beautiful shrub or small tree common to the Rio Grande
Valley in Texas and abundant in northern Mexico. In the vicinity of
Brownsville it is regarded as a valuable source of nectar, blooming two
or three times during the year. The tree only blooms two or three days,
so the flow is short, usually not exceeding a week, as the difference
in blooming time between different trees is not great. The honey is
of fine quality and light in color. In some localities beekeepers
report that the flow only lasts about two days, but is heavy for this
short period. Rains bring it into bloom, and in seasons when rains are
frequent, it blooms several times.
[Illustration: Fig. 136. A clump of southwest Texas honey plants:
agarita, mesquite, blackberry, brazilwood, anaqua, prickly pear and
huisache, all growing together near Goliad.]
TEXAS--Honey Sources of.
Texas is a very large State, with a great diversity of soil and
climatic conditions. In order to appreciate its vast extent, one
needs to study the map and note something of the variety of climate
represented within her borders. Orange, Texas, is very nearly south of
Des Moines, Iowa, while El Paso is further west than Denver, Colorado.
The northern line is near to southern Kansas, while Brownsville is a
long distance south of San Diego, California. One might describe almost
any condition of soil and climate with which he is familiar in any part
of the United States and say with truth that it is like Texas, for
almost every condition of soil or climate of the rest of the country
is to be found somewhere in Texas. The climate ranges from a winter
temperature of 20 degrees below zero in the Panhandle, to an almost
frostless condition in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. In east Texas there
is a heavy rainfall, with a consequent luxuriant vegetation, while in
parts of west Texas one finds a desert flora and little rain. At one
point which the author once visited he was told there had been no rain
for eighteen months and the very dry and dead condition of everything,
even the cactus, indicated that it was true.
Texas seems to be divided into about five natural beekeeping divisions.
Each of these has a flora and conditions peculiar to itself, though,
of course, there is a gradual merging of these natural divisions. The
lower Rio Grande Valley is the southernmost section of the United
States, except the extreme tip of Florida. Here we find conditions
unlike any other part of Texas. There is a great variety of honey
plants, with a light flow almost continuously, but no heavy honey
flows. This condition favors the continuous breeding of bees and the
consumption of the honey gathered in brood rearing. It is the most
favorable situation in America for the rearing of queens and bees, but
a poor place for honey production, since the average surplus per colony
seldom exceeds twenty-five pounds.
In this section bees swarm as late as December and gather sufficient
nectar to carry them through the brief period when vegetation is
dormant. The huisache and catsclaw bloom in February and March.
Hackberry also begins to yield in February. From February till December
there are but short periods without some nectar coming from the field.
Brazilwood, horsemint, Texan ebony, blackbrush, privet, coma, mesquite,
whitebrush, and many others, yield light flows of nectar.