JULY 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1921. 17 



53990 to 53995— Continued. 



perennial, and while not a large grower, will probably reach a height 

 of 10 feet at least. Since it grows npon the high paramo, it should 

 withstand at least several degrees of frost." 



53994. RiBES PUNCTATUM Ruiz and Pav. Grossulariacese. Currant. 



"(No. 63Sa. Hacienda La Rinconada, Ecuador. June n, 102L) Seeds 

 of the wild Andean currant from the Province of Carchi. Altitude about 

 11,.^>00 feet. 



"A shrub reaching a height of 6 feet, with broadly ovate, subcrenate 

 leaves truncate at the base, serrate and sometimes slightly lobed, and 

 about an inch long. The round orange-yellow fruits, rarely more than 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter, are borne on axillary racemes about 2 

 inches long. They are subacid and not very agreeable in flavor and 

 little used by the inhabitants of the region in which they grow. 



" In general appearance, both of plant and fruit, this species is strik- 

 ingly suggestive of our cultivated currants. It will be of interest in the 

 United States because of its relationship with the latter, and it may 

 perhaps be used in producing a good variety of currant suitable for regions 

 where our pre.sent cultivated sorts will not succeed." 



A fruiting branch of this Andean currant is shown in Plate III. 



53995. Rlibus adenotrichos Schlecht. Rosacea). Blackberry. 



"(No. 640a. Hacienda La Rinconada, Ecuador. June 10, 1921.) 

 2Iora hlanca (white blackberry), from the Province of Carchi, at an 

 altitude of about 10,500 feet. This species of Rubus is low growing and 

 half shrubby in habit, sending up canes to a height of 6 or 8 feet. The 

 stems are light green and covered with short stiff hairs; the leaves are 

 composed of 5 ovate-acuminate to oblong-acuminate, finely serrate, 

 glabrate leaflets 3 to 4 inches long. The white flowers, about an inch 

 broad, are borne in many-flowered panicles up to a foot long. The 

 fruits are abundantly produced ; they are oblong to oval, up to three- 

 quarters of an inch long, and cream white when ripe. The drupelets are 

 small and numerous and closely set together ; the seeds are small and 

 give little trouble when the fruit is eaten. The flavor of this excellent 

 berry is sweet and pleasant ; the species, in fact, is one of the most 

 interesting and promising of all those which have been collected in South 

 America up to the present time. It should be given a careful trial in 

 the southern and western portions of the United States." 



53996. DioscoREA TParioA L. f. Dioscoreacese. Yampi. 



From Porto Rico. Tuber presented by J. A. McCutcheon, Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board, New York City, who obtained it from the Bean Trading 

 Co. Received September 3, 1921. 



" This is apparently a purple-skinned strain of the Jamaica yampi. The 

 single tuber received was about 7 inches long by 3 inches in greatest diameter, 

 and nearly 1^ pounds in weight. The flesh is rather moist when cooked, of 

 good flavor, flue grained, and perfectly white." {R. A. Young.) 



53997 to 54016. Saccharum officinarum L. Poaceas. 



Sugar cane. 



From Passoeroean, Java. Seeds presented by Dr. Ph. van Harreveld. direc- 

 tor, Sugar Experiment Station. Received August 6, 1921. Quoted notes 

 by Doctor van Harreveld. 



" POJ is ' Proefstation. Oost Java' (Experiment Station, East Java), where 

 all the seedlings mentioned originated." 



53997 to 54003. " These crossings, types, and their seedlings are toler- 

 ant to the mosaic disease." 



53997. "J\o. 1376 POJ (crossing of Chunnee seedlings) =2/3 POJX 

 SCO POJ=(BIricl: Chcribo)}XChunnee)X {Black BonicoXChun- 

 nee) made at the station in 1906." 



