AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 263 



ton, D. C, it is the principal source of surplus, and strong colonies often 

 store an average of 100 pounds. In many cases the bees build up on tulip- 

 poplar only to become strong after the flow is over. In locations where 

 this tree is common, too much care cannot be taken to get strong colonies 

 early in spring to take advantage of this flow. 



TUPELO-GUM (Nyssa). 



There are four species of the tupelo-gum trees, which should not be 

 confused with the gums of the Pacific Coast, which are eucalyptus (See 

 Eucalyptus). The tupelo-gum, or cotton-gum (Nyssa aquatica) (Fig. 138), 

 is a very large tree common to the swamps from southeastern Missouri 

 and southern Illinois east to Virginia and south to Florida and Texas. It 

 grows to a height of more than 100 feet and yields enormous quantities of 

 nectar. 



The pepperidge, or highland black-gum (Nyssa sylvatica) sometimes 

 called sour-gum, yellow-gum, tupelo, or stinkwood, grows in moist upland 

 woods from Ontario and New England to Michigan and south to Florida 

 and Texas. It reaches a height of 150 feet and a diameter of four feet, 

 under favorable conditions. 



The water-gum, or Southern black-gum (Nyssa biflora), also called 

 water tupelo, has a swollen base and, when growing in the water, pro- 

 duces erect roots which rise to the surface. It is found from North Caro- 

 lina to Florida and west to eastern Texas. It is sometimes regarded as a 

 variety of the pepperidge or black-gum. 



The ogeche plum or wild lime-tree (Nyssa Ogeche), called white tupelo, 

 is much smaller than the other gum-trees, growing to a height of forty to 

 sixty feet. It is common to the swamps of Georgia, Florida and South 

 Carolina. 



The first named species is very common in the swamps of Alabama 

 and Florida, where it often grows with the bald cypress on the banks of 

 the Alabama, Tombigbee and Appalachicola Rivers. A. B. Marchant aver- 

 aged 82 pounds of surplus honey per colony from tupelo for a seventeen- 

 year period on the Appalachicola River in Florida. During part of this tune 

 he kept as many as 500 colonies to the yard. In 1904, he took 250 thirty- 

 gallon barrels from 750 colonies, an average of about 120 pounds per colony. 



The tupelos are the source of much honey in Arkansas, east Texas and 

 other Southern States, as well as in Alabama and Florida. Beekeepers 

 complain that in many of the best tupelo locations there is a shortage of 

 summer pollen, so that it becomes necessary to move the bees away when 

 the tupelo flow is over. 



The tupelo honey is of good quality, and, when unmixed, will not 

 granulate. Bottlers like to use tupelo honey for blending with other grades 

 to retard granulation. It is good body and mild flavor, and finds a ready 

 sale at better prices than most southern honey brings. 



TURKEY MULLEIN (Eremocarpus setigerus). 



The turkey mullein is also known as coyote weed, wooly white drought 

 weed, and yerba del pescado. The latter, according to Jepson, is the Spa- 



