AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



101 



bees. The blooming period is long. In 1915 the bees were working on 

 this plant in the writer's garden for nearly two months. Apparently this 

 plant does not secrete nectar very freely, yet it is an excellent plant to 

 keep the bees at work when they might otherwise be robbing. The writer 

 does not recall ever having seen a locality where it was sufficiently abund- 

 ant to amount to very much by itself, though it is a valuable addition to 

 the other honey-producing flora. Fig. 58 shows the blossoms and leaves, 

 which bear some resemblance to catnip. 



GIANT HYSSOP (Agastache nepetoides). 



Giant hyssop is a tall perennial herb with flowers crowded on a ter- 

 minal spike, flowering in summer. It is common in woodland borders from 

 New England to Minnesota and south to North Carolina and Texas. Lovell 

 lists it as blooming about six weeks and much visited by honeybees. 

 Probably nowhere important. 



GILIA. 



Jepson lists 18 species of gilia as common to California. The late 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, writing of gilia in the American Bee Journal stated that 

 all the gilias are good honey plants. He mentioned Gilia capitata as the 

 source of quantities of sky-blue pollen. He mentions the fact that several 



