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AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



CROWNBEARD (Verbesina). 



There are several species of 

 this plant, some of which are very 

 attractive to the bees. They may 

 be found in the borders of open 

 woodlands and partially shaded 

 situations of the region east of 

 the Missouri River. Where suffi- 

 ciently abundant the crownbeard 

 is the source of a considerable 

 quantity of nectar. A coarse 

 weed, growing four to eight feet 

 tall, with winged stems and yel- 

 low, or sometimes white, blos- 

 soms. 



CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus). 



The cucumber is dependent 

 upon bees for pollination of the 

 1:)lossoms. The flowers are imper- 

 fect, the male organs being con- 

 tained in one flower while the fe- 

 male organs are in another. For 

 this reason it is necessary that 

 insects carry the pollen fron the 

 staminate blossom,s to the pistillate ones. Where pickles have been 

 grown under glass, they have proved unfruitful until bees are given access 

 to the bloom. Formerly the pickle growers fertilized the blossoms by 

 hand to some extent. This was very laborious. According to B. N. Gates 

 (In 3rd Report Iowa Bee Inspector), one grower has forty acres under 

 glass in Massachusetts and the industry requires about three thousand 

 colonies of bees annually to serve in the cucumber greenhouses. 



In some sections, cucumbers are grown extensively for pickles. At 

 Marengo, 111., Doctor Miller reports that about 600 acres are planted to 

 pickles. He reports that, whereas he formerly had no fall flow, his bees 

 now gather some fall crop, part of it evidently from cucumbers. There 

 are numerous localities where cucumbers are of some importance to the 

 beekeeper. Lovell states that the honey is pale yellow or amber and has 

 at first a rather strong flavor, which largely disappears in time. 



The crownbeard is 

 the bees. 



favorite 



CUP PLANT (Silphium perfoliatum). 



Cup plant, also called rosin weed, is a common square-stemmed plant 

 with leaves grown together at the base forming a cup. It grows from 

 four to eight feet high and is abundant on rich lands, along streams and 

 in woodside borders, in the Mississippi Valley. It produces numerous large 

 yellow flowers and, where plentiful, furnishes considerable forage for the 

 bees. It is probably seldom important as a source of surplus. 



