July Plants. 285 



mus, whioh swarms with bees all the day long, are also com- 

 posite plants. 



The little shrub of our marshes, appropriately named but- 

 ton-bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis (Fig. 155), also shares the 

 attention of the bees with the linden; while apiarists of the 

 South find sour-wood, or sorrel tre e, Oxydendrum arboreum 

 (Fig. 156), a valuable honey tree This belongs to the H e ath 

 family , which includes the far-famed heather bloom of Eng- 

 land. It also includes our whortleberry , cranberry , blueberry, 

 and one plant which has no enviable reputation, as furnishing 

 honey which is very poisonous, even fatal to those who eat, 

 the mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia. Yet, a near relative 

 which grows at the South, Andromeda nitida, is said to fur- 

 nish beautiful and wholesome honey in great quantities. The 

 .Virginia creeper also blooms in July. I wish I could say 

 that this beautiful vine, transplendent in autumn, is a favorite 

 with the honey-bee. Though it often, nay always, swarms 

 with wild bees when in blossom, yet I never saw a honev-bee 

 visit the ample bloom amidst its rich, green, vigorous foliage. 



The St. John's wort . Hypericum, with its many species, both 

 shrubby and herbaceous, offers bountiful contributions to the 

 delicious stores of the honey-bee. The catnip , Nepeta eataria, 

 and asparagus — which if uncut in spring will bloom in June — 

 so delectable for the table, and so elegant for trimming table 

 meats and for banquets in autumn, come now to offer their 

 nectarian gifts. 



Basil or mountain mint, Pyeruanthemum lanceolatum — we 

 might almost include all the, mints, the blue and white ver- 

 vains, or verbenas. Verbena hastata, and V- striata; the iron 

 weeds, Vernonias the malvas, culvers root, Veronica Virginica 

 — another of the figwort family; Indian plantains . Gaealias, 

 and vipers' bugloss — the so-called blue thistle — all contribute to 

 the apiary in J uly ; the vipers' bugloss, Echium wdgare, though 

 most common South is very abundant at Beeton, Canada. Mr. 

 Jones has it growing all about his apiaries. I have never seen 

 it in Michigan. It is a near relation of borage , and does not 

 belong even to the family — (Jompositse — of 'the thistles. 



In California, the blue gum and the red gum, Eucalyptus 

 globulus, and E. rostrata, introduced from Australia, furnish 

 honey from July and August till December. 



The catalpa, a very rapid growing tree, throws its large, 



