OF NORTH AMERICA. 63 



poifonous. As accidents from the ufe of deleterious 

 honey have happened in the fame countries in which 

 thefe poifonous fungi grow, it has been fuppofed, and 

 aflerted, that the poifonous honey is prepared from a 

 dew that collects upon thefe fungi. Perhaps, this fup- 

 pofition is not entirely devoid of foundation.* 



■I jQiall now mention a few vegetables from the flow- 

 ers of which, I think, it will be found, that the bees 

 coiledl a poifonous, or injurious honey. Thefe arc : 



I. The rhododendi'on maximum, or Pennfylvania 

 mountain laurel. This belongs to a very active genus 

 oi plants. We have already feen, that one of the fpecies, 

 the rhododendron ferrugineum, was, long ago, obferved 

 to produce the fame effcdls which have been afcribed to 

 the kalmia latifoHa. Another fpecies, the rhododendron 

 cryfanthum, has been found a powerful medicine, and 



has 



* If the celebrated author of die Rechncl.es Phllofophiques fur Ics Ame- 

 ricans be ftill living, ibis acccjnt of our poifonous and injurious honey 

 (ihould my memoir fall into his hands) ^vould aflbrd him feme entertain- 

 ment. I \vould advife him to connect llie fa<fl:s, which I here commu- 

 nicate, with the remarks concerning our infefls contained in the firft volume 

 of tlie Recherches (fee p. 169 and 170).- I hope, however, that Mr. De 

 Pauw, v/ho, notv.'iihftandiny his love of fyftem and his many errors, is 

 certainly a man of great reading, will rccollecl, that the Greek and Roman 

 ■\vriters (as we ihall afterv.-ards fee) have faid much concerning the 

 poifonous honey of various parts of the old WDrld. 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 lioney. The lioney v.hich is col- 

 leiSed from the flowers cf the tuhp-tree (liriodendron tuiipiiera), die 

 buckwheat (polygonum fagopyrum), the red-maple (acer rubrum), the 

 clover (triiolium), and many otlier plants is excellent. The Abbe Clavi'gero 

 fays the bee of Yucatan and Chiapa makes " the fine clear honey of 

 Eftabentun, of an aromatic fLivour, fuperior to that of all the odier 

 kinds of honey with which we are acquainted." (a) The Hijioty of Mcxicc, 

 Vol. I. p. 68. Perhaps on feme future occafion, I may communicate to 

 the Philofophical Society a lift of thofe indigenous vesjetables wliich, as 

 fumifning an innocent and excellent honey, are wordiy of prefer\'ation in 

 the neighbourhood of apiaries. The lill is an exteufive one. 



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

 from a fragrant white flour like jelTumine, which blows in September'" 



