18 SEEDS AXD PLANTS IMPORTED. 



45005. Craniolaria annua L. Martyniacea3. 



From Kew, Englaiul. Presented by Sir David Prain, director, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens. Reoeivetl .July 23, 1917. 

 A coarse, wide-spreading, rank annual, about 2 feet high, with large, opposite, 

 palmately lobed leaves with dentate margins, racemes of white flowers, and a 

 two-valved many-seeded capsule with a long incurved beak. It is a native of 

 northern South America, where it is known as Creole scorsonera and where the 

 thick, fleshy root is preserved in sugar as a comfit. (Adapted from Bailey, 

 Standard Cyclopedia of HorticuUure, vol. 2. p. 877.) 



45006 to 45008. 



From Nice, France. Pi-eseuted by Dr. A. Robertson Proschowsky. Re- 

 ceived July 23, 1917. 



45006. FoENicuLUM vulgake Hill. Apiaceae. Fennel, 

 Fenouil doux. The sweet fennel is quite popular as a winter and 



spi'ing vegetable in southern Europe. The young shoots are eaten like 

 asparagus tips, either plain boiled or served with a sauce. The plant 

 will grow on very stony, steep slopes, where it serves as a soil binder, 

 but it responds readily to better treatment. (Adapted from letter of 

 Dr. A. Robertson Proschowsky dated June 30. 1017.) 



45007. MusA PARADisiACA SEMiNiFERA (Lour.) Baker. Musacese. 



Plantain. 



A wild seed-bearing form of the plantain, having small, oblong, greenish 

 fruits full of seed. These fruits are about a third of the size of the 

 common banana and are of pleasant taste, although encumbered by 

 numerous seeds. The plant is quite ornamental and hardier than the 

 common banana, so that it might be possible, by selection or hybridiza- 

 tion, to extend the range of banana culture. (Adapted from letter of 

 Dr. A. Robertson Proschoicsky dated June 30, 1911.) 

 "*5008. Priotropis cytlsoides (Roxb.) Wight and Arn. Fabacefe. 



A leguminous bu.sh with slender branches, trifoliate leaves 2 to 3 inches 

 long, and numerous many-flowered racemes of pale-yellow flowers. It 

 is a native of the tropical region of the eastern Himalayas and is culti- 

 vated in Nice. France, where from November to April the abundant necta- 

 riferous flowers furnish about the only food available to the bees. Its 

 winter-blooming habit and attractive flowers make it a desirable orna- 

 mental for regions not subject to severe frost. (Adapted from Hooker, 

 Flora of British India, vol. 2, p. 6-5, and from letter of Dr. A. Robertson 

 Proschoivsky dated June 30, 1917.) 



45009. BuTiA CAPiTATA (Mart.) Becc. Phcenicaceae. Palm. 



From Gotha. Fla. Fruits presented by Mr. H. Nehrling. Receivetl July 23, 

 1917. 

 " This is the most massive of hardy Cocos species which I have. The bunches 

 of fruits usually weigh about 50 pounds each. I raised the plant from seeds 

 received from the late Dr. Hermann Burmeister, of Buenos Aires, who in- 

 formed me that the seeds had been collected by Dr. Niederlein at Entre Rios, 

 Argentina, about 22 years ago. These Cocos species are the most beautiful and 

 hardy on the high ptnelands, and most of them are edible and very aromatic." 

 (Nehrling.) 



