670 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



THE HIMALAYA BLACKBERRY. 



might tell something about it. I have been 

 familiar with this plant quite a number of 

 years; but I have never noticed that it is 

 sought by the bees any more than is the red 

 raspberry. The loganberry is not as exten- 

 sively planted as it was some years ago, ow- 

 ing mainly to the fact that the public has not 

 fallen in love with it. Unless real ripe when 

 picked, the berry is quite acid; but when 

 mixed with raspberries and blackberries it 

 produces a jam that is excellent. 



THE HIMALAYA BLACKBERRY. 



If there is any berry in California that de- 

 serves culture by the apiarist more than any 

 other it is the Himalaya blackberry, which 

 is of rather recent introduction. It secretes 

 nectar at a time when other berries are on 

 the wane, and it continues well into the fall. 

 The fruit is borne in large bunches, as many 

 as twenty or more being in a cluster. The 

 flowers are possibly a little larger than those 

 of the common blackberry, and are slightly 

 tinted with a pink or purplish tinge. The 

 fruit is not as large as that of the common 

 varieties (see illustration), but it is borne in 



far greater abundance, and its flavor, when 

 fully ripe, is delicious. The vines grow 

 from ten to twenty feet long, and have a 

 rambling habit, so that in cultivation they 

 must be trained on a fence or trellis. I be- 

 lieve the plant will not stand the rigor of the 

 eastern climate. 



PRAISE FOR THE LIPPIA. 



The first favorable notice I ever saw of the 

 Lippia as a honey-plant was in Gleanings. 

 It was then restricted to one or two small 

 sections of this State, but it is now more 

 largely distributed, owing mostly to the fact 

 that it is being used for lawns. It is remark- 

 able, the number of bees that will get to 

 business right down on the ground, I might 

 say, in their eagerness to collect the nectar 

 from the tiny blossoms of this plant. I 

 should judge that the plant spreads by means 

 of the seed, although the writer of a para- 

 graph in one of our California nursery cata- 

 logs states that it does not grow from seed. 



A MIX-UP IN THE NAME OF THE HONEY-SAGES. 



Some twenty-five years ago there was no 

 botanical name for the California sages. 

 The first person, to my knowledge, to throw 

 any light on the real botanical name as then 

 understood was Prof. A. J. Cook, in the Cal- 

 ifornia Apiculturist, who placed them in the 

 genus Aiidibertia. To this genus they have 

 been assigned by nearly all botanical works 

 until lately. When I received the last edi- 

 tion of the A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture, 

 however, about the first thing that arrested 

 my attention was the article on our Califor- 

 nia honey-sages. It is the same as the arti- 

 cle in the two previous editions, except the 

 opening line, which reads, "Sage (Ramona 

 stachoides and palmer — Sargent)." This was 

 new to me, and I thereupon consulted all 

 the works at my command at home, but none 

 of them recorded any change. I then re- 

 ferred to the last edition of Prof. Cook's 

 "Bee-Guide," and saw that he now uses 

 Ramona. I therefore wrote to Prof. E. J. 

 Wickson, Director of the Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station, and Professor of Horti- 

 culture of the University of California, and 

 he referred my inquiry to Dr. Hall, of the 

 Botany Department of the University. The 

 doctor's reply follows: 



Mr. W. A. Pryw/.— Professor Wickson has asked that 

 I reply to your inquiry concerniner the botanical name 

 of our native honey sages. I am sorry to report that 

 there is much diversity of opinion amonff botanists as 

 to the genus to which these plants should be referred. 

 In all the older works they are referred to Aiidibertia, 

 and perhaps the wisest plan at present would be to re- 

 lain this name until some agreement can be reached. 

 The white sage, so common throughout Southern Cal- 

 ifornia, was Aiidibertia polystacliia; the black sage was 

 Audibertia stachoides; the crimson-flowered sage was 

 Aiidibertia urandiflora. 



Professor Green is of the opinion that the white sage 

 belongs to a distinct genus which he has named Ra- 

 mona. Briquet, the Swiss authority on this family, 

 has extended Green's genus to include the black and 

 crimson-flowered sages. According to this last au- 

 thority these three would, therefore, be Ramona poly- 

 stachia, Ramona stachoides. and Ramona srandiflora. 



There is still another opinion prevalent among bota- 

 nists; and that is. that all of these plants should be re- 

 ferred to the genus of true sages — that is. Salvia. 

 Since the specific names mentioned above are preoc- 

 cupied in Salvia, it is necessary to change some of 

 them if the genera are combined. The white sage has 



