HOREHOUND 
519 
the Cascades in Oregon and Washington. The honey 
has a fine flavor and is amber color with a faint 
pinkish tinge. 
Viper’s Bugloss.—See Blueweed. 
Water Moody (Baccharis glutinosa). —Bottom- 
willow. A bush from 4 to 6 feet tall. In southern 
Arizona blooms in spring and yields a surplus of 
white honey of excellent quality. Most common on 
land that is inundated in the river valleys. 
White Clover (Trifolium repenu ).—White Dutch 
clover. The most widelj' known and possibly the 
most important honey plant. Secretes nectar most 
freely on limestone soils, where the mean summer 
temperature does not exceed 77 degrees F. Honey 
white, excellent, the standard with which all other 
honeys are compared. 
Wild Alfalfa (Lotus glaber ).—An important 
honey plant in the Coast Ranges of California; 
honey white to amber; the yield is very variable 
in different years and in different localities. 
Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum ).—A 
bushy shrub common on the plains and mountain 
slopes of southern California. The honey is light 
amber, with a fine flavor and granulates early. The 
honey flow comes in July and August. Usually' the 
honey is mixed with that of the sages, but in Ante¬ 
lope Valley, Ventura County, it has been obtained 
pure. 
Wild Cherry.—See Cherry. 
Wild China.—See Soapberry. 
Wild Senna.—See Cassia.' 
Willow ( Salix ).—Valuable in early spring for 
both nectar and pollen. In New York the honey 
resembles that of apple bloom, and has a pleasant 
aromatic taste; but in California it is described as 
bitter-flavored and amber-colored. See Willow. 
Willow-herb (Epilobium angustifolium.) —Can¬ 
ada, the northern States, especially Michigan; con¬ 
fined chiefly to regions where there have been for¬ 
est fires. Flowers red-purple; honey clear, limpid, 
literally water-white; very sweet; aromatic. 
Woodbine (Psedera quinqvefolia ).—A woody 
climbing vine with' small green flowers in clusters. 
Yields nectar abundantly. Common in thickets and 
often cultivated. 
HOREHOUND (Marrubium vulgare). 
-—A woolly herb with small white flowers 
in whorls. Naturalized from Europe, 
horehound is widely distributed thruout 
the United States. In Texas it yields nec¬ 
tar freely from February to July. The 
honey is very sweet with a peculiar, rather 
nauseating' flavor. It is common in the 
foothills of the Coast Ranges and Sierra 
Nevada, in the Sacramento and San Joa¬ 
quin valleys, and in southern California, 
where it yields a dark amber honey, too 
strong for table use, but largely used in 
medicine. Horehound is a pest on a sage 
range, for, if only a small quantity of its 
nectar is gathered, the color and flavor of 
the sage honey are impaired. Horehound 
is very common in Australia, where it was 
introduced by the early settlers. The hon¬ 
ey is valued for its medicinal qualities. 
HORSEMINT ( Monarda punctata ).—- 
The genus Monarda, which was named for 
Nicolas Monardes, a Spanish physician 
and botanist who lived in the 16th century, 
contains about 15 species, all natives of 
North America. The most valuable species 
to the beekeeper is the common horsemint 
M. punctata. It is a perennial herb with 
lance-shaped leaves, and two-lipped yel¬ 
lowish flowers spotted with purple, which 
grows in sandy fields and prairies from 
New York to Wisconsin and southward to 
Florida and Texas. In western Wisconsin 
and eastern Minnesota it is common on the 
sandy jackpine lands and oak barrens, 
where it yields nectar abundantly and is 
very attractive to honeybees. In Iowa it 
occurs only in the sandy sections along 
the Mississippi, Wapsipinicon, Cedar, and 
Iowa rivers. It is likewise listed as a 
honey plant in western Mississippi and 
northwestern Louisiana. In Texas it is 
an important source of surplus. 
Horsemint was first brought into notice 
a few years ago, when it was highly recom¬ 
mended to beekeepers and the seeds sold 
quite extensively. Subsequently it was al¬ 
most forgotten until large crops of honey 
from this source obtained on the low alluv¬ 
ial lands bordering on the Mississippi 
River attracted attention. Afterwards 
wonderful reports came from different 
parts of Texas. While horsemint is found 
in nearly every county in eastern Texas 
it is most abundant on the Black and 
Grand Prairies. According to the reports 
of hundreds of Texan beekeepers it ranks 
second in importance among the honey 
plants of that State, and it is estimated 
that 19 per cent of the total surplus comes 
from this source. Beginning in June or a 
little earlier it blooms from four to six 
weeks, or, if there is much rainy weather, 
for a much longer time. The surplus in 
the cotton belt is largely dependent on the 
horsemints, and the average per colony in 
commercial apiaries ranges from 20 to 100 
pounds. But it is not reliable every year, 
and in hot dry seasons the flow greatly de¬ 
creases. The extracted honey is clear light 
amber in color, a little darker than the 
comb, and of good body. It has a pro¬ 
nounced flavor, and has been compared 
with the basswood honey of the North. 
Horsemint honey is preferred to white clo¬ 
ver honey by many persons, but it is the 
