48 FLORA OF MICHIGAN. 



NATIVE BEE PLANTS. 



In Michigan there is a very large number of plants which furnish a 

 good quality of honey. If the species is abundant in any region, it usually 

 becomes known to the apiarist as a good bee plant; if not abundant it very 

 likely fails to attract attention. A plant may be rare or important in one 

 region and abundant in another. In autumn, asters and golden rods are 

 known as excellent bee plants, because some few of the man^ species in 

 the State are plentiful in nearly every neighborhood, but the same sorts 

 of asters or golden rods do not everywhere throughout the State furnish a 

 great amount of the honey. As a rule, those plants which produce odor- 

 ous or showy flowers afford honey and will be visited by honey bees unless 

 the flower is of a shape which makes it impossible for the bee to reach the 

 food. 



Probably in the State there are of native plants, introduced weeds and 

 field crops, a thousand species which furnish excellent food for bees. This 

 is nearly o;ne hundred times as many as t|he bee keeper has in mind, 

 unless he has given unusual attention to the subject. 



Our open low lands furnish a large proportion of the bee pasture; the 

 forests some; the weeds and some of the field, garden and orchard crops a 

 fair amount. Extremely dry or very wet weather are both unfavorable to 

 the yield of honey. Drainage of the swamps and the clearing of waste 

 places are unfavorable to the interests of the bee keeper. 



As the botanist now looks at the subject, colors and odors are mere 

 advertisements to call the attention of insects to the rich supplies of food 

 in store for them. It may be said that the honey is there for the bees, 

 but primarily it is there for the good of the plant, secondarily for the 

 good of the insect. Had good old Dr. Watts lived in our day, he would 

 have no doubt written his familiar verse in this way: 



How doth the little busy bee 



Improve each shining hour? 

 By carrying pollen day by day 



To fertilize each flower. 



NATIVE PLANTS FOR THE PEOTECTION OF HILLSIDES, EMBANKMENTS AND 



DRIFTING SANDS. 



The following, so far as we know 3 are the most valuable: 



Agropyrum repens, Beauv. Quick- or Quack-Grass. Well naturalized from Europe. 

 Ammophila arundinacea, Host. Sea Sand-Reed. 

 Apocynum androscemifolium, L. Spreading Dogbane. 



" cannabinum, L. Indian Hemp. 

 Calamagrostis longifolia, Hook. Dogwood. 

 Carex siccata, Dewey. Sedge. 

 Cornus alternifolia, L. Dogwood. 



" Bailey i, Coult. & Evans. Dogwood. 



" stricta, Lam. 



" sericea } L. Silky Cornel. 



" stolonifera, Michx. Red-osier Dogwood. 

 Elymus Canadensis, L. Wild Rye. 

 Poa pratensis, L. June Grass. 

 Populus balsamifera, L. Balsam Poplar. 

 " monilifercij Ait. Cotton- wood. 

 " tremuloides, Michx. Aspen. 

 Rubus strigosus, Michx. Red Raspberry. 

 Salix. Any of our native species growing near by. 



