270 AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS 



grows luxuriantly in moist woods. The bees have been so eager for the 

 blossoms of this plant in the writer's wild garden and in the surrounding 

 woods for several years past, that he has come to regard it is quite a 

 valuable honey plant, although nowhere so listed as far as can be learned. 

 Figure 141 shows the blossom and leaf of this plant, while Figure 142 

 shows masses of the plants in bloom. Apiaries in the vicinity of wood- 

 lands should find this plant of considerable value, judging from the writ- 

 er's limited observation. 



VITEX NEGUNDO INCISA. 



A plant of recent introduction by the Bureau of Plant Industry. De- 

 scribed as follows by Frank N. Meyer, explorer, who found it at Shantung, 

 China : 



"A sage which may prove to be a good plant for the arid South- 

 western States. It is able to resist alkali remarkably well. The 

 Chinese use it for basketry manufacture, taking the annual shoots for 

 this purpose. It has pretty blue flowers and is diligently visited by all 

 kinds of bees, and as such it might be grown in gardens as a semi- 

 ornamental shrub. It grows, w^hen left alone, up to 20 feet tall." 

 Specimens tested by the author in Iowa, which were mere whips about 

 20 inches tall, began bloooming the same season, the last week in July, 

 and had not entirely faded on September 10. The bees sought it eagerly 

 and apparently, if abundant, it would be a valuable honey plant. 



w 



WA-HE-YA (Huajillo), see Acacia. 

 WAHOO, see Hop-Tree. 

 WAKEROBIN, see Trillium. _ 



WALNUT (Juglans). 



The black walnut is a well-known forest tree in the eastern United 

 States. Its usual range is from Ontario and New England west to Ne- 

 braska, and south to Florida and Texas. The wood is very valuable for 

 the manufacture of gunstocks, furniture, etc., and is becoming somewhat 

 scarce. The tree leaves out later than most forest trees, not developing 

 its foliage until May or June. Figure 143 shows the pollen-bearing blos- 

 soms. These blossoms are long catkins borne on the wood of the preced- 

 ing year. The blossoms appear before the leaves. Quantities of pollen 

 are produced, and, at times, the bees seek the trees in such numbers as to 

 make a continuous roar. The walnut blooms after the maples and wil- 

 lows, and is not as valuable as earlier blooming trees, because it comes at 

 about the same time that the dandelions are in bloom. May is the month 

 of blossoming in most northern localities. 



The white walnuts or butternuts of the Eastern States, and the Eng- 

 lish walnuts, Japaneses walnuts and California walnuts grown in the 

 warmer parts of the country, especially in California, are relatives of the 

 black walnut, and probably equally valuable for pollen. 



