INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY 

 THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRO- 

 DUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM OCTOBER 1 

 TO DECEMBER 31, 191T (NO. 53; NOS. 45221 TO 

 45704). 



INTBODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



Tliis inventory covers the period from October to December, in- 

 clusive, 1917. During this time Agricultural Explorer Frank X. 

 Meyer was on his last trip, exploring the upper Yangtze River around 

 Ichang, and Agricultural Explorer Wilson Popenoe was in the 

 Vera Paz region of Guatemala (fig. 1). The collections of these 

 two men form a substantial addition to -the new plants of this 

 country. 



Mr. Meyer found about 40 varieties of citrus fruits in the region 

 around Ichang; of these he sent in some interesting varieties of 

 mandarins and pummelos (Nos. 45311 to 45315) and a large-fruited 

 Wanipi {Claucena Jcmsh/m, Xo. 45328), which is closely related to 

 Citrus but has small pubescent fruits. As yet this fruit is prac- 

 tically unknown in America, although a great favorite with the 

 Chinese. Mr. Meyer's suggestion that the large ocher-yellow flowered 

 Lycorig aurea and the carmine-red flowered species L. radiata^ to- 

 gether with its yellow variety, ought to thrive throughout the South 

 is worth emphasizing. He found these in great abundance in Hupeh 

 Province (Nos. 45525 to 45528). The Ichang lemon (No. 45534) he 

 thinks may be distinctly hardier than the common lemon, and the 

 rare Chinese horse-chestnut {Aesculus ivilsonii, No. 45532), which 

 has naiTower leaves than the common species grown by us, is noAv 

 well established in America through the seeds Avhich Mr. Mever 

 procured. . ■ 



It seems probable that few of the introductions by Mr. Meyer will 

 be of greater value than some of his cultivated varieties of that 

 blight-resistant species of pear {Pyrus caUeryana^ No. 45586) which 

 he calls the domestic crab-apple pear and which he found in many 

 varieties near Kingmen, Hupeh. The pioneer work of Dr. Eeimer 

 has brought this species of pear to the foreground because of its 

 peculiar resistance to blight, and some of these cultivated sorts bid 

 fair to become of great value for stocks upon which to work the 



