372 Beekeeping 



eys and the variation in color from a supposedly uniform 

 floral source may in part be due to varying admixtures of 

 honey-dew. 



In the summer of 1909, honey-dew honey was exceptionally 

 abundant throughout the eastern United States. This was 

 due not only to the shortage of nectar but to an exceptionally 

 large number of aphids. The prevalence of these insects is 

 determined largely by immediate climatic conditions and 

 they are destroyed by millions by heavy rains. Dry seasons 

 may therefore dry up the nectaries and at the same time 

 allow plant-lice to propagate excessively, giving us our 

 honey-dew seasons. 



ANNOTATED LIST OF HONEY-PLANTS 



In the following list an effort is made to give the plants of 

 value to the beekeeper, as sources of nectar and pollen, with 

 brief notes which will be helpful in determining the relative 

 importance of the various species. While this list is chiefly 

 for plants in the United States, mention is made of some 

 important plants of tropical America, especially of Hawaii 

 and Porto Rico. The list will also apply to Canada. 



The arrangement of these notes in alphabetical order is 

 adopted as placing the notes where they will first be sought 

 by the majority of readers, under the common name of the 

 species. The following of the natural order, by families and 

 genera, would show relationships which can only be sug- 

 gested here by naming under each family the species of that 

 family that are mentioned in the notes. 



This list is unavoidably incomplete because so little sys- 

 tematic work has been done on honey-plants. There are 

 hundreds of valuable notes on these plants in the bee journals 

 but they are hard to find and often it is impossible to tell 

 what species is being discussed since the scientific name is 

 not given or is given incorrectly and since the same common 

 name is sometimes given to two or more species in various 

 parts of the United States. 



