APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1917. 73 



44817. VoANDZEiA suBTERRANEA (L.) Tliouai's. Fabaceo}. 



From Uinkomaas, Natal, Union of South Africa. Presented by Rev. H. D. 

 Goodenough. Received June 5, 1917. 



" Woandsii. The natives plant these when the first rains come, on new 

 ground, preferably a sandy loam. They look very much like peanuts, but in 

 cooking they are boiled in their shells." (Goodenough.) 



A yellow-flowered annual with upi'ight, long-stalked compound leaves com- 

 posed of three leaflets. Like the common peanut, the flower stalks bend down 

 to the eai'th after flowering, and the pods are ripened underneath the ground. 

 In the requisite cultural conditions the plant much resembles the conunon pea- 

 nut. (Adapted from MacmiUan, Handbook of Tropical Gardening and Plant- 

 ing, I). 232.) 



44818 to 44822. 



From Guatemala. Collected by Mr. Wil.son Popenoe, agricultural explorer. 

 Received May 4, 1917. Quoted notes by Mr. Popenoe. 



44818. Cr.EOME sp. Capparidacese. 



"(No. 104a. From Purula, Department of Baja Vera Paz.) Seeds 

 of alcochofli, an herbaceous plant found in the mountains at an altitude 

 of about 6,000 feet. It sends up slender stems to a height of about 6 

 feet, producing large numbers of delicate pale blue and white flowers. 

 The leaves and stems, when crushed, have a pungent odor." 



44819. Dahlia excels a Benth. Asteracese. Dahlia. 

 "(No. 105. From Purula, Department of Baja Vera Paz.) Cuttings 



of a double pink variety of the common tree dahlia. It is pale lilac, 

 the same color as the typical form, but unlike the latter, which has large 

 single flowers, this variety has double flowers resembling in form some 

 of the common garden dahlias of the North. The plant grows to a 

 height of 15 feet, or even more, and blooms during a long period. It is 

 cultivated in the gardens of the Indians, but is not common. In the 

 Pokom dialect it is called shiklior; in Kekchi tsoloh." 



44820. Persea Americana Mill. Lauracese. Avocado. 

 (P. gratissima Gaertn. f.) 



"(No, 87a. Seeds of avocado No. 15 [S. P. I. No. 44439] from the 

 finca Santa Lucia, Antigua.) These seeds are to be grown and distributed 

 as choice seedlings to those who wish to plant a seedling tree on the 

 possibility that it may become a valuable new variety. It will be inter- 

 esting to watch these trees when they come into fi-uit and to compare 

 their fruits with those of their parent, avocado No. 15. The latter is a 

 very choice variety." 



44821. Maximilianea vitifolia (Willd.) Krug and Urb. Cochlosper- 

 {Cochlospermum liibiscoides Kiinth.) [mace?e, 



"(No. 107a.) Tecomasnche. Seeds of a common shrub or small tree 

 of eastern and central Guatemala, from the highlands at about 4,000 

 feet down to a level of 1,000 feet or perhaps lower. The plant occasionally 

 reaches a height of 35 feet, is always stiff, rather sparsely branched, and 

 bears stout branchlets, which usually carry leaves only toward their 

 tips. The plant is leafless from December or January to May in most 

 sections ; at this period it produces at the ends of the branchlets numer- 

 ous large yellow flowers, single, brilliant in color, with a deep-orange 

 center. They are followed by oval seed pods as large as a hen's egg." 



