170 POISONOUS HONEY OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Plants affording 1. The rhododendron maximum, or Pennfylvania mountain 

 poifonous honey. JaureI# Thjs be | ongs to a very a6live genius of pIants< We 



have already feen that one of the fpecies, the rhododendron 

 ferrugineum, was, long ago, obferved to produce the fame 

 effects which have been afcribed to the kalmia latifolia. An- 

 other fpecies, the rhododendron cryfanthum, has been found 

 a pqvverful medicine, and has been ufed in Ruflia, with 

 much advantage, in the ifchias, in chronick-rheumatifm, and 

 in other difeafes ; and we fhall immediately fee that from 

 another fpecies a poifonous honey has been procured in the 

 neighbourhood of the Euxine-Sea. The footftalks of the 

 leaves, and alfo the feeds, of our rhododendron maximum, are 

 covered with the fame brown powder as I obferved covered 

 the leaf-footftalks and the feeds of feveral of the andromedae, 

 and the kalmiae. This powder in the rhododendron, as well 

 as in the andromedae and kalmine, excites fneezing, and it is 

 curious to obferve that a fneezing is mentioned by Diofcorides 

 among the fymptoms produced by the honey about Heraclea 

 Pontica. That honey, as will be prefently fhown, is pro- 

 cured from the rhododendron ponticum. 



II. The azalea nudiflora. This fine flirub is' well known 

 in Pennfylvania, and other parts of the United States, by the 

 name of wild honeyfuckle. Of its properties I know nothing 

 certain. It has, however, too much of the family face, and 

 is too frequently found in company with the rhododendron 

 maximum, and the kalmiae, not to make me fufpicious that it 

 partakes alfo of the characters of thefe deleterious vegetables. 

 Moreover, a fpecies of this genus, the azalea pontica of 

 Linnaeus, is fuppofed to be the aegolethron of Pliny, who 

 mentions it as the plant from which the poifonous honey about 

 Heraclea Pontica is prepared. The tube of the flower of our 

 azalea is perforated by the large bee, called bumble-bee. 



III. Datura firamonium. This plant is known by a variety 

 of names, fuch as Jameftown-weed, gymfin; ftink-weed, 

 French-chefnut. Its active and poifonous properties are now 

 pretty generally known. Children have often been injured 

 by eating the feeds. The tube of the flower contains a con- 

 iiderable quantity of honey. This honey is bitter, and has 

 much of the poifonous fmell. Bees quaff it. But admitting 

 that it is of a poifonous nature, it does not follow that our 

 cultivated bees (if I may be allowed to ufe this expreftion) 



will 



