AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



241 



annually from Fresno County, the honey being of amber color, good qual- 

 ity and quick to granulate. He states that other plants are replacing spike- 

 weed to such an extent that it is no longer of the importance which it 

 was in the past. 



SPOON-WOOD, see Laurel. 



Fig. 129. The bees seek the spring beauty in early spring. 



SPRING BEAUTY (Claytonia Virginica). 



The spring beauty is one of the early spring flowers common in open 

 woodlands from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Ontario, Saskatche- 

 wan and Alaska and from New England west to Minnesota and Nebraska 

 and south to Georgia and Arkansas. Appearing so early in spring it is 

 much sought by the bees at a time when there is little of either nectar or 

 pollen available. At a later season it would be of such slight value as to 

 be hardly worthy of notice on the part of the beekeeper. Figure 129 shows 

 a bee on the blossom of a spring beauty. 



SPRUCE (Picea abies). 



For years past there has been an occasional mention in our beekeep- 

 ing literature of spruce honey, or of bees working on spruce. As far as the 

 writer has been able to ascertain this is true only of the Norway spruce. 

 Since the Norway spruce is not a native of this country, it is seldom found 



