POISONOUS HONEY OF NORTH AMERICA. ] fj9 



which the bees prepare a honey that is poifonous. The Plants affording 

 flowers are faid to be yellow, and the root a deadly poifon. p ° W10U * one '* 

 I do not know what plant this is. Mod probably, it is fome 

 Umbelliferous plant, perhaps a cicuta, an angelica, or a 

 fcandix. 



Some fpecies of agaricus, at leaft fome fungous vegetables, 

 that grow in the fouthern itates, are extremely poifonous* 

 As accidents from the ufe of deleterious honey have happen- 

 ed in the fame countries in which thefe poifonous fungi grow, 

 it has bedn fuppofed, and aflerted, that the poifonous honey 

 H prepared from a dew that collects upon thefe fungi. Per- 

 haps, this fuppofition is not entirely devoid of foundation *. 



I (hall now mention a few vegetables from the flowers of 

 which, I think, it will be found, that the bees colled a poifon- 

 ous, or injurious honey. Thefe are: 



* If the celebrated author of the Recherches Philofophiques fur 

 Jes Americans be ftill living, this account of our poifonous and in- 

 jurious honey (thould my memoir fall into his hands) would afford 

 him fome entertainment. I would advife him to connect: the facts, 

 which I here communicate, with the remarks concerning our in- 

 fects contained in the firft volume of the Recherches (fee p. 169 

 ■and 170.) I hope ? however, that Mr. De Pauw, who, notwith- 

 ftanding his love of fyltem and his many errors, is certainly a man 

 of great reading, will recollect, that the Greek and Roman writers 

 (as we fhall afterwards fee) have faid much concerning the poifon- 

 ous honey of various parts of the old world. And now let me add, 

 that in America there is as good honey as in any other parts of the 

 world ; and there is not a fcarcity of this good honey. The honey 

 which is collected from the flowers of the tulip-tree (liriodendron 

 tulipifera), the buckwheat (polygonum fagopyrum), the red-maple 

 (acer rubrum), the clover (trifolium), and many other plants is ' 

 excellent. The Abbe Clavigero fays, the bee of Yucatan and Chiapa 

 makes " the fine clear honey of Eftabentun, of an aromatic flavour, 

 fuperior to that of all the other kinds of honey with which we are 

 acquainted." (a) The Hiftory of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 68. Perhaps on 

 fome future occalion, I may communicate to the Philofophicai 

 Society a lift of thoie indigenous vegetables which, as furnifhing 

 an innocent and excellent honey, are worthy of prefervation in 

 the neighbourhood of apiaries. The lift is an extenfive one. 



(a) This fine honey, according to the Mexican hiftorian, is 

 ?• made from a fragrant white flower like jeflamine, which blows in 

 September." 



I. The 



