AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 45 



grows chiefly in cornfields in river bottom land and is perennial. It 

 blooms before smartweed, but the smartweed honey is usually mixed with 

 it, as it comes in later. 



BLUEWEED or VIPER'S BUGLOSS (Echium vulgare). 



The blueweed, or viper's bugloss, is a weed naturalized from Europe. 

 It is common in the meadows and roadsides of the Eastern States. It 

 has showy purple or blue flowers and grows about two feet 'high. June 

 is the flowering period. Sladen lists it as an important source of nectar 

 in Southern Ontario. Probably not sufficiently abundant to be very im- 

 portant in many places. 



This plant was introduced into Australia from Europe by a settler 

 named Patterson, and has become widely spread there, where it is known 

 as "Patterson's curse." Rayment states that it yields honey, but hardly 

 sufficient to store much in the supers. (Money in Bees in Australasia). 



BONESET (Eupatorium). 



There are 475 species of Eupatorium known, many of them found in 

 Tropical America. Some are found in Europe, Asia and South America, 

 so that the plants have a wide range. Forty-five or more species are com- 

 mon to North America. Whether nearly all yield nectar, we have no rec- 

 ords to prove. Fig 27 shows Eupatorium ageratoides, a species common 

 from New England south to Tennessee and Georgia. According to J. M. 

 Buchanan, it is common over the State of Tennessee, but only yields 

 honey in the northern part. He reports the honey to be a light amber, of 

 strong flavor. The yield conies in August and September. Fig. 28 shows 

 the white snakeroot (E. urticaefolium), a species common to the wood- 

 lands of the Middle West. Although the bees visit this species freely, 

 from September until killed by frost, usually in October, the honey yield 

 is probably rather small. 



The Joe-Pye weed or turnip weed (E. purpureum), is frequently re- 

 ported as yielding honey, and it is one of the most widely distributed 

 species. It is found from New Brunswick to Manitoba and south to Colo- 

 rado, Texas and Florida. 



The boneset of commerce is made from thoroughwort (E. perfoli- 

 atum), which is one of the best for honey in the Northern States and 

 Canada. 



All the bonesets are autumn bloomers, and the honey is usually mixed 

 with that of heartsease, asters, goldenrod, Spanish needles and other 

 plants blooming at the same period. Several years ago Professor Beal 

 made the statement, in the American Bee Journal, that there were twenty 

 species or more valuable to the bees. The wide distribution of the group, 

 together with the regularity of its yield, make it one of special importance 

 to the beekeeper, although the amount of surplus gathered from boneset 

 is not often as large as that of many other well-known plants. 



Some species of boneset are to be found in almost any kind of situa- 

 tion. While white snakeroot grows in shady woodlands, other kinds de- 



