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INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND Pl^ANTS IMPORTED BY 

 THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRO- 

 DUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM APRIL 1 TO 

 JUNE aO, 1921 (NO. 67; NOS. 52855 TO 5^895). 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



This sixty-seventh inventory contains a part of the plant colle-^tions 

 made by onr Agricultural Explorer Wilson Popenoe in the high- 

 lands of Ecuador. These collections represent real exploration work 

 of a strenuous and dangerous character in a country through which 

 no one travels easily and in the remote regions of which most trj^ing 

 hardships — poor food, almost impassable roads, and malaria — are 

 constant companions of the eyplorer. To penetrate into these 

 regions, to bring out collections of living plants, and to land them 

 successfulh' in the United States is a feat which deserves special 

 mention, for it must not be forgotten that in some portions of this 

 tropical country the hardships of travel have changed very little 

 since the days when Robert Spruce visited them in search of the 

 cinchona tree. 



The collection consists of 47 species of plants carefully selected 

 from the hundreds of curious and interesting species which compose 

 the flora of Ecuador. Because of Mr. Popenoe's wide acquaintance 

 with the horticultural ]ilants in America, particularly those suited 

 to the warmer parts of it, these should have a special interest to 

 the experimenters who will read these descriptions. Owing to the 

 difficulty of identifying Ecuadorian plants many of the species here 

 described are not yet botanically classified further than as to their 

 genera. The collections are numbered S. P. I. 53177 to 53217, 53485, 

 and 53754 to 53758. 



Among tl^.e more interesting plants from Ecuador ai-e the Chota 

 Valley avocados (Nos. 53182 to 53185 and 53895), which l)elong to 

 the Mexican race but are unusually large and of excellent quality. 

 These provide a strain of this hardy Mexican race which hitherto 

 has not been tried in this country. 



The discovery of the presence of the potato disease, Phytoph- 

 thora infestans, in this the very home of the cultivated potato, which 



:; fact has been abundantly established by Professor Pachano, removes 



[2 the mystery of the origin of this disease, which has puzzled patholo- 

 gists for many j^ears. Differences in the susceptibility of the dif- 



^ ferent sorts were observed, but no resistant strains appear to be 

 known there, although excellent varieties were secured and intro- 



^ duced (Nos. 53187 to 53197), 



^ The Ecuadorian walnut, Jur/lans sp. (No. 53198), called there 

 tocte, appears to be a valuable nut and forest tree. 



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