OCTOBER 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1913. 69 



36811 to 36813— Continued. 



as this species is pretty generally distributed throughout the tropical world. 

 The shrub is called tattas by the natives. The governor is not sure whether it 

 will endure any degree of frost, but thinks it may. The seedling plants form a 

 rather deep taproot and must be transplanted with some care on that account. 

 This is one of the most perfect tropical hedge plants I have ever seen." 



36814. Artemisia maritima L. Wormseed. 



From Russia. Presented by Mr. John H. Grout, American consul at Odessa. 

 Received November 29, 1913. 



" In only one part of the country (Tashkend) was I able to secure the seed, and there 

 it was in the hands of one firm. This firm has a small plantation a long distance away, 

 where the seed is raised in small quantities. 



"Russian pharmacists obtain their supplies of the flower buds from central Asia, 

 where on some of the dry hillsides the plants grow in great profusion and without any 

 sort of cultivation. There it is richest in the volatile oil and in santonin, for which 

 it is valued. The same variety of plant is also found in parts of Persia and Asia Minor 

 and , I believe, also in places in Hungary. It seems to thrive best in semiarid climates 

 with a superabundance of sunshine and a certain brackishness of soil. It would doubt- 

 less grow well in some parts of the southwestern portion of the United States on cal- 

 careous loess and on the outskirts of salt marshes. Whether a plant which grows 

 wild in other places and only needs to be collected could be grown with great profit 

 in the United States may be open to doubt." (Grout, extracts from letters dated April 

 14 and November 8, 19 IS.) 



"Artemisia maritima L., is a very variable species, and two varieties which are 

 known as A. cina Berg and Schmidt, and A. paucifiora Weber are usually regarded 

 as the source of the so-called Levant wormseed, or santonica, of the Pharmacopoeia. 

 The commercial supply of santonica comes largely from Turkestan, but the harvests 

 of three successive years, 1909 to 1911, proving a failure, considerable interest has 

 been aroused in the possibility of producing this drug in other countries." (W. W. 

 Stockberger. ) 



36815 to 36817. 



From American Samoa. Presented by Commander C. D. Stearns, Governor of 

 Samoa. Received December 10, 1913. 



36815. Mangifera indica L. Mango. 

 "Mango seeds taken from fruits grown in these islands." (Stearns.) 



36816. Dioscorea sp. 

 Tuber. 



36817. Tersea Americana Miller. Avocado. 

 (Persea gratissima Gaertn. f.) 



"Seeds taken from fruits grown in these islands." \Stearns.) 



36818 to 36828. Phoenix dactylifera L. Date. 



From Dongola, Sudan, Africa. Offshoots collected by Prof. S. C. Mason, of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. Received December 17. 1913. 



Quoted notes by Prof. Mason. 



"It is generally acknowledged that the four date varieties of importance in this 

 Province were originally brought up the river from the Sukkot district, a very inac- 

 cessible region between the second and third cataracts of the Nile, now included, 

 for administrative purposes, in Haifa Province, with the capital at Wadi Haifa. John 

 Lewis Burkhardt, in his account of his travels in Nubia in 1813, mentions the excel- 



