the great number of them present in the clover fields, in my opinion, offsets to a large extent their inability to reach the bottom of the floral tubes of red clover.”

More than a score of clovers occur in California, several of which are common and widely distributed. Sour clover (T. furcatum), which grows rankly on low alkaline land, is of some value for nectar.

COLIMA (Xanthoxylum Fagara). — This species of prickly ash is a thorny shrub or small tree, found in southern Florida and along the Gulf Coast of Texas, and very common in the West Indies. The small yellowish-green flowers in southern Texas occasionally yield a surplus of honey of good body and flavor. Usually it is only moderately important. The staminate and pistillate flowers are on different trees. Also called wild lime.

COMA (Bumelia lycioides). — A small tree, or in Texas often a shrub, growing along streams from Illinois to Texas and Florida. It is reported to be a good honey plant in the Rio Grande Valley from Brownsville to Del Rio. It is usually a thorny, rough shrub covering hundreds of acres, and so dense are these thickets that they can not be penetrated by a man on foot or horseback. The small white flowers are in clusters in the axils of the leaves, completely covering the limbs. Coma blooms from December to April, and yields a honey of light-amber color and fair flavor. Although lighter colored, it has a twang suggestive of buckwheat; but, by those accustomed to it, coma honey is preferred to the milder honeys. Also called southern Bumelia, chittinwood, ironwood, and southern buckthorn. There are many other species of Bumelia in tropical America.

CORN FLOWER. — See Bachelor’s Button.

CORAL BEAN (Sophora secundiflora). — A shrub, or small tree, growing on limestone bluffs from New Mexico to Texas and Mexico. The racemes of strongly fragrant, violet-blue flowers yield nectar freely. The red bony seeds are very poisonous. It is known in Mexico by the name of frigolito.

CORALBERRY.—See Buckbush.

COTTON (Gossypium). — The number of species of cotton have been placed at from five to fifty-four, but conservative authority admits of seven well-defined species. The number of varieties with English names is very large, but the common names give no assistance; they even tend to lead the botanist astray as to the origin of the species. For example, a cotton called Siamese comes from America. Only four or five species are of interest to the beekeeper. The Asiatic cottons (Gossypium herbaceum) are extensively cultivated in India and China, and have been known for more than two thousand years. American upland cotton was long referred to this species by mistake. Tree cotton (G. arboreum), a taller species with purple flowers, is a native of Africa, but was held sacred by the Hindus of India and cultivated about their temples. The botanical name of the Egyptian cottons is uncertain, but by many they are considered forms of G. barbadense.

Two species of cotton are extensively cultivated in the United States. They are Sea Island cotton (G. barbadense) and American upland cotton (G. hirsutum). Sea Island cotton yields a very fine long staple (1 1/2 to 2 inches in length), but it is grown only along the coast of South Carolina and inland in southern Georgia and northern Florida. Upland cotton (G. hirsutum) forms more than 99 per cent, of the cotton crop of the United States. Two principal commercial types are grown in the United States — short-staple upland cotton (fibers under 11/8 inches in length), which has by far the largest acreage; and long-staple upland cotton (fibers 1 1/8 to 1 1/2 inches long), which is largely confined to the Yazoo Delta, Mississippi, a few counties in South Carolina, and the Imperial Valley of southern California. Egyptian cotton, which has a very long staple (1 1/4 to 1 3/4 inches) is grown in the Salt River Valley, Arizona. Cotton was cultivated in Mexico and Peru at the time of their discovery by the Spaniards, and the American species probably originated in tropical America. The Asiatic cottons have white seeds, while the American cottons are black-seeded. There is a valid species of cotton indigenous to the Sandwich Islands and another to the Society Islands.