snow vine n
Either of two vines with numerous small whitish flowers that are an important source of nectar for bees in the Southeast: a pepper vine n (here: Nekemias arborea) or climbing hempweed n.
1881 Amer. Bee Jrl. 17.86/3, We have a vine which grows in the swamps and yields a great deal of amber-colored honey. We inclose a sprig—please give the name. Alderman & Roberts. Wewahitchka, Fla. [Response:] The vine you send is commonly known as snow vine, and is quite abundant in several of the Southern States. 1911 Amer. Bee Jrl. 51.238/1, Along large streams in the great cotton-belt bees gather but little cotton honey, because the snowvine and other similar vines, which grow in great abundance along such streams, begin yielding before the cotton does and continue throughout the summer. 1926 Dixie Beekeeper 8.166 SE, Snowvine as a honey plant is not so well identified but is a well known honey plant. We expect to illustrate it and describe it so that anyone after reading this will be able to locate it. [DARE Ed: The vine is appar Ampelopsis arborea.] 1939 U.S. Dept. Ag. Circular 554.10, Alabama. . . Snow vine (Ampelopsis arborea . . , perhaps Mikania scandens. .). 1954 FL Ag. Exper. Sta. Bulletin 548.21, Pepper vine, Ampelopsis arborea . . , also called snowvine in Florida, grows as a vine up to 30 feet or more or as a weak shrub. [Footnote to snowvine:] In Georgia beekeepers apply this name to Mikania scandens . . , a different plant . 1976 Miami Herald (FL) 8 Feb sec K 24/2, The snowvine, or hemp vine (Mikania cardifolia [sic]), climbing to the tops of cypress trees in swamps, trailing over vegetation in canals, on the banks, and in low hammocks on the mainland of Florida and on the Keys, blooms from May to December and yields nectar profusely in the fall. 2024 in 2025 DARE File—Internet cnLA, I took a minute after my last inspection to grab a sample of what my bees have been foraging lately. . . Climbing hempvine is its common name, or sometimes it’s called snowvine because its abundant white flowers and climbing habit can make it look like snow covering whatever shrub or tree this vine happens to have grown over.