892 
WILLOW-HERB 
Lower Peninsula) was formerly covered 
with white and red pine, which has now 
been largely cut for timber. During the 
first dry season after the cutting, fire bums 
over this stump-land, and two or three 
years later the growth of willow-herb comes 
to maturity. A few years ago it produced 
large quantities of honey, but as the pine 
has been largely lumbered the prospect is 
that willow-herb in the Southern Peninsula 
of Michigan has had its day. In the Up¬ 
per Peninsula it is at present a most valu¬ 
able source of surplus. Blooming at mid¬ 
summer it prolongs the honey flow until 
the middle of August. If is easily eradi¬ 
cated by cultivation, but it will be many 
years before the beekeeper will not be able 
to profit from the bloom dotting the cut¬ 
over lands. 
It is common in the maritime provinces 
of Canada; in Quebec; in northern On¬ 
tario, particularly in the Rainy River dis¬ 
trict and on the clay lands; also around 
Lake Temiskaming; in Manitoba, especial¬ 
ly around Lake Winnipeg and in the low 
moist lands of eastern Manitoba; in north¬ 
ern Saskatchewan; and in central and 
northern Alberta. But it is most abundant 
in British Columbia both in the mountains 
and on the coast. It reaches its highest de¬ 
velopment both in height of the plant and 
in the size of the flower cluster in the lower 
Fraser Valley. At Hector, B. C., at an alti¬ 
tude of 5,200 feet and at Glacier at an ele¬ 
vation of 4,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains 
and Selkirk Range on the Canadian Pacific 
Railway there are large patches of fireweed 
in bloom year after year. Between Laeombe 
and Edmonton in Central Alberta fireweed 
springs up and blooms in wheat fields in 
places, where the grain has failed to grow. 
It is also fairly common on scrubland. 
In the warmer valleys of the southern 
part of British Columbia the plants begin 
to grow so early that the blooming period 
may close before the end of the summer; 
but in the north they continue to flower 
until killed by about five degrees of frost. 
In northern Ontario a killing frost may 
come as early as the last of August. Trav¬ 
ellers to the Yukon and other parts of the 
far north of Canada have observed that 
fireweed is prevalent as far as the forest 
extends, even to the delta of the Mackensie 
River. 
In the rain belt of eastern Washington 
and Oregon in the lumbered regions there 
are immense areas of fireweed, which offer 
as promising a bee pasturage as is perhaps 
to be found in the United States. In Wash¬ 
ington its acreage is probably equal to that 
of any other two honey plants. At pres¬ 
ent it does not support as many colonies 
of bees as alfalfa, partly because of the 
absence of good roads, and partly because 
beekeepers do not realize its possibilities 
as a honey plant. As in other States it is 
confined largely to the burned-over areas in 
the sections of coniferous forests, but there 
is probably not a county in Washington in 
which it does not occur. It ranges in alti¬ 
tude from sea level to the upper timber 
line. In the northeastern timbered section 
it is very common, and in some localities it 
is the leading honey plant; but it is also 
becoming more abundant along the irrigat¬ 
ing ditches in the Yakima Valley and in 
other irrigated valleys, altho here it is only 
a minor honey plant. It is also very im¬ 
portant in northern Idaho. In eastern Ore¬ 
gon it is equally abundant, and areas of 
100 acres, or more, thickly covered with 
fireweed occur. It remains at its best for 
four or five years, depending upon rainfall 
and soil conditions. Gradually other vege¬ 
tation crowds it out. A second fire will 
temporarily increase its abundance, but the 
second period of growth is usually short, 
since the roots of many other perennial 
plants survive in the ground. After forest 
fires it appears in abundance in the Sierra 
Nevada of California.' Willow-herb has a 
more northern range than any other honey 
plant of the first rank. 
HONEY FLOW. 
Willow-herb blooms in July and August, 
but the period of blooming is influenced by 
altitude, latitude, and rainfall. The flow¬ 
ers are usually red-purple in color, but at 
Monteith, Ontario, Sladen observed solitary 
stalks of a white-flowered variety. The nec¬ 
tar is secreted by the green fleshy top of 
the ovary, where it is protected from rain, 
and is yet easily accessible to insects. On 
the outer side the nectar is enclosed by the 
dilated bases of the stamens and above by 
a ring of hairs around the style. The flow¬ 
ers are visited not only by honeybees and 
bumblebees, but likewise by many solitary 
