OCTOBER 1 TO DECEMBEE 31, 1917. 7 



tropical horticulturists as a hitherto entirely neglected tropical 

 fruit tree. From the valley of the Rio Polochic he sends in seeds 

 of a handsome flowering shrub {Pogonopus speciosus, Xo. 45360) 

 with brilliant scarlet bracts suggestive of the i^oinsettia; and from 

 the vicinity of San Cristobal a wild grape (No. 45361) with fair- 

 sized berries, which he thinks is the largest fruited grape he has 

 yet seen in the Tropics and should be capable of development by 

 selection. 



Six of Mr. Popenoe's selected avocados are described in this in- 

 ventory, including the Akbal (Xo. 45505), which he considers, on ac- 

 count of its earliness, one of his promising sorts, the Manik (Xo. 

 45560). Kaguah (No. 45561), Ishim (Xo. 45562), Kanan (Xo. 45563). 

 and Chabil (Xo. 45564). Under No. 45506 he describes the fruit of 

 a species of Malpighia called the azerola, which may be hardier than 

 its relative, the Barbados cherry, and if so would be well worth 

 distributing as a dooryard shrub in southern California and even in 

 southern Texas. 



The possibility of a terrestrial orchid which would produce a good 

 flower for use in the house is emphasized by Mr. Popenoe in his in- 

 troduction, from an altitude of 4,000 feet, of the Sohralia macrantha 

 (Xo. 45547), which grows there to a height of 4 feet and has a large 

 showy flower. His " ilama," a species of Annona (A. diversifolia, 

 Xo. 45548), which appears to be adapted to the lower levels of the 

 tropical coastal plain, can not fail to be of interest to tropical horti- 

 culturists, for it has fruits as fine in flavor as the cherimoya and will 

 thrive on the coastal plain where. the cherimoya refuses to grow. Dr. 

 Safford has named after Mr. Popenoe a new species of Dahlia (Xo. 

 45578), which in his opinion is in all probability the ancestor of the 

 cactus dahlia and to which the breeders may have to turn to re- 

 juvenate their stock of this wonderful flowering plant. 



With the introduction of the large-fruited tropical hawthorn (Xo. 

 45575), which Mr. Popenoe found growing in the mountains of 

 Guatemala and which is used for the production of a distinctive and 

 delicate preserve by the people there, we now have in this country 

 the material for the breeding of new types of hawthorns, which 

 should be adapted to a wide range of conditions. Our numerous 

 native species, the Chinese Crataegus pinnatifida with its large- 

 fruited strains, and this Guatemalan tropical species, C. stipulosa. 

 should attract some one to the problem. 



The remarkable breeding work of Dr. Walter Van Fleet is well 

 known to the rosarians, but his acti-vnties in other fields are less well 

 known. This inventory gives descriptions of selections and hybrids 

 (Xos. 45330 to 45342) which he has produced by the breeding of the 

 chinquapin {Castanea puTnila), the Chinese chestnut {C. tnolJlssima), 

 the American chestnut {C . dentata) . and the Japanese spec-ies {€. 



