174 AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



safety valves situated in the queer positions occupied by extranuptial nec- 

 tar glands, and no satisfactory direct physiological explanation of the 

 nuptial glands has been suggested. 



The actual status of nectar in botanical science is about this: When it 

 is produced in flowers, and in some cases vi^hen it is outside of them, but 

 near them, it demonstrably serves to secure cross-pollinization through the 

 aid of insects, or humming birds and their like, when the flowers are long, 

 tubular and red, as in the trumpet creeper, the trumpet honeysuckle and the 

 scarlet salvia. It is then "nuptial nectar." When it does not serve the 

 plant in this way and so is "extranuptial," it occurs in the neighborhood 

 of the flowers, as in cotton, sweet potato, trumpet creeper and paeony, 

 where it attracts numbers of ants, which are often very pugnacious, and to 

 the extent of their activities it prevents injury to the flower buds and flow- 

 ers, especially in their early stages; or it occurs on developing leaves dur- 

 ing the period of their greatest need. More rarely, as in the acacias, the 

 leaves continue to secrete it through the season, so that those that are 

 mature add to the protection of the younger leaves and the flowers and the 

 young fruit. 



That neither of these functions is served in exceptional cases, and that 

 some flowers rely on the wind for effective pollination, or have lapsed into 

 self-fertilization; or .that really pugnacious ants do not commonly frequent 

 the extranuptial glands of most plants in temperate regions, and that some 

 plants get along very well without such help, mark questions that will con- 

 tinue to stimulate observation and experiment. But nothing now known 

 of the physiology of plants offers an alternative explanation for that which 

 connects nectar with either pollination or defense; and until such an ex- 

 planation can be found nectar will continue to be regarded as connected 

 indirectly with these services through insect or bird relations. — William 

 Trelease, Botanist, University of Illinois. American Bee Journal, Dec, 1919. 

 (See also Physiology of Nectar Secretion). 



NEGUNDO, see Box Elder. 



NEVADA— Honey Sources of. 



Much of Nevada is mountain and desert countrJ^ Alfalfa is the prin- 

 cipal source of surplus honey, though sweet clover also yields. There are 

 numerous minor sources, as willows along the streams and many of the 

 desert plants. 



NEW BRUNSWICK— Honey Sources of. 



In New Brunswick the principal sources of nectar are alsike and white 

 clover, fireweed, goldenrod and aster. Willows and maples stimulate early 

 brood rearing. — F. W. L. Sladen. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE— Honey Sources of. 



The honey flora of New Hampshire is very similar to that of other New 

 England States. In spring, willows, maples, fruit blossoms and dandelions 

 keep the bees busy in preparation for the main flow, which comes from the 



