AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



185 



several feet long. It grows along the Atlantic Coast to the north line of 

 Florida, but in the interior is not found in abundance more than about 

 two-thirds of the way. 



The tree blooms during July and August, the latter date applying to 

 northern parts of the State. The blossoms are very delicate and have 

 been likened by Professor Baldwin to a giant ostrich plume. (Fig. 105). 

 According to his statement, the flowerlets are sensitive to weather condi- 



The saw iialmetto in bloom. 



tions. Too much moisture blights them, while the opposite extreme blasts 



the delicate bloom. As a consequence, it does not yield abundantly more 



than about one year in three, although at times it yields very profusely. 



"On the St. Lucie River, Mr. Hill extracted, barreled and shipped 



3,500 pounds of palmetto honey from 55 colonies in two weeks." — Page 



489, American Bee Journal, 1899. 



While palmetto honey is regarded as of very high quality, the honey 

 from the cabbage tree is rather thin and requires some care in getting it 

 properly ripened, as the following quotations will show: 



"Cabbage palmetto honey, sealed or unsealed, will foam as though 

 fermentation was in progress; that taken from the combs unsealed will 

 ferment enough to deprive it of all the honey flavor, but the sealed only 

 foams. Thin and acid and amber in color, it will flow bubbling from 

 the cells behind the knife, and it is not a rare thing to see gas bub- 

 bles under the cappings of the sealed cells. Whether the colonies are 

 strong or weak, it is always the same, when the bees work on the cab- 

 bage trees, as the common palm tree of Florida is called. The name 



