Inventory 54, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate II. 



/sJ. 



jiM. 



KouME Nuts From 



Zanzibar. Telfairia pedata 

 S. P. I. No. 45923. 



J. E. Smith Hook. 



These nuts are produced in a large gourdlike fruit 3 feet long and a foot in diameter. Each gourd 

 contains 200 of these seeds. The vine which bears them is a tropical, rank-growing cucurbit 

 which climbs to the top of forest trees — a regular liana. In East Africa the koumenutsareused 

 by Europeans as table nuts and for flavoring cakes, and a sweet, pleasant-tasting edible oil is 

 extracted from them. They have been seriously considered as a source of vegetable oil, but 

 the bitter inner skin surrounding the oily kerneland the hard nature of the shell are obstacles 

 to be overcome before they are eligible for oil-producing purposes. As a decorative screen for 

 the edge of the forest and because of its edible nuts, it is worthy of study by tropical horticul- 

 turists. (Photographed bv E. L. Crandall, October 1, 1920,'from seeds sent in from East 

 Africa by Dr. H. L. .Shantz; P26o05FS.; 



