Jrdy Plants. 285 



mils, which swarms with bees all the day long; are also com- 

 posite plants. 



The little shrub of our marshes, appropriately named but- 

 ton-bush, Gep]iah,nthus ocQidentalis (Fipi;. 155), also shares the 

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

 South find the sour- wood, or sorrel tree, Oxydetidnmi arboreiim 

 (Fig. 156), a valuable honey tree. This belongs to the Heatli 

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

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

 and one plant which has no eiiviable reputation, as furnishing 

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

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

 which grows at the South, Andromeda nitlda, 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 favor- 

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

 with wild bees when in blossom, yet I never saw a honey-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 cataria, 

 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, Pyeiumthemmn Imiceolatum — we 

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

 vains, or verbenas. Verbena Jiadata, and V. dricta; the iron 

 weeds, Veronias ; the malvas, culvers root, Veronica Virginica 

 — another of the figwort family; indian plantains, Cacalias, 

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

 the apiary in July ; the vipers' bugloss, Echium vulgare, 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 — Compositse — 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. 



