70 AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



blooming verj- early in the season. On account of its early blooming, it 

 i? principally valuable to stimulate early brood rearing. 



This tree should not be confused with the Wild China, which see. 



CHINESE SUMAC, see Varnish Tree. 



CHINQUAPIN (Castanea pumila). 



The chinquapin is a shrub or small tree common from New Jersey 

 and southern Pennsylvania southward to Missouri and Texas. It is well 

 known to the beekeepers in parts of Alabama, Georgia and north Florida, 

 where it flowers in May. In Arkansas, it is a large tree, reaching a 

 height of fifty feet in some cases. 



In some localities beekeepers report good crops of honey from chin- 

 quapin, but the quality is inferior. It is dark and strong, with a bitter 

 taste. Some use it for feeding to replace the better grades of honey which 

 may be taken from the bees. In color it looks like New Orleans molasses, 

 and a sample, in the author's collection for several years, shows no ten- 

 dency to granulation. 



CHITTAM, see Buckthorn. 

 CHOCTAW ROOT, see Dogbane. 

 CHOKE CHERRY, see Wild Cherry. 



CHRISTMAS BERRY, or CALIFORNIA HOLLY (Heteromeles arbuti- 

 folia). 



The Christmas berry is known also as toy-on or tollon berry, as well 

 as California holly. It is common along the streams and on the mountain- 

 sides of California, where it flowers in June and July. It has white flow- 

 ers and the bright red berries ripen in late autumn. The berries, accord- 

 ing to C. D. Stuart, are acid and slightly astringent, though not unpleas- 

 ant. He states that the berries were eaten by the Indians as a kind of 

 salad, and that a wine-red drink is sometimes made from them after an 

 old Spanish-Californian recipe. The plant is much used for Christmas 

 decoration on the Pacific Coast. 



According to Richter, the plant is the source of a thick amber honey 

 of decided flavor, which candies with a coarse grain, within two or three 

 months after extraction. He reports surplus from this source in Monte- 

 rey, Colusa and Nevada Counties, California. 



Jepson gives the range as "Throughout the coast ranges and Sierra 

 Nevada, and southward to southern and Lower California. Frequent 

 along streams and gulches in the lower hills, and also abundant on stony 

 slopes at middle elevations, especially from Napa to Humboldt Counties. 



At Visalia the author heard reports of an average of a case per colony 

 of surplus honey from this source in the mountains. 



CITRUS FRUITS, see Oranges, Lemons, Etc. 



