OCTOBER 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1915. 49 



41571. Crotalaria ctjnninghamii R. Brown. Fabacere. 



From Wellington Point, near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Presented 

 by Mr. James Pink. Received December 7, 191". 



" I am of the opinion that under cultivation it will prove an acquisition for 

 ornamental planting, and in dry situations it may become a rival to the 

 herbaceous Calceolaria. The plant grows about 2 feet high and will -boar top- 

 ping to any extent, every lateral throwing up a spike of flowers of bright 

 orange yellow." (Pink.) 



Though unattractive as to the color of the flower, this is a very curious 

 and striking greenhouse plant, the soft velvety pubescence that clothes all the 

 surfaces with a uniform glaucous hue at once arresting the attention. It is a 

 native of the dry, almost desert regions of northwestern and central Australia, 

 growing on sandy ridges, from Sharks Bay to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and 

 penetrating southward through central Australia toward Spencers Gulf. 

 A shrub 2 to 3 feet high, everywhere covered with a soft gray-green tomentum. 

 (Adapted from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, p. .5170.) 



41572. Maltjs sargentii Render. Malacese. 



From Tokyo. Japan. Presented by Dr. T. Watase, Tokyo Plant. Seed & 

 Implement Co. Received December 4. 1915. 

 A shrub of bushy habit 3 to 5 feet high; leaves ovate to oval. 2 to '■' inches 

 long. 1 to 2 inches wide; woolly when quite young, becoming nearly smooth 

 before falling; flowers pure white, 1 inch across, produced in clusters of five 

 or six; fruit orange shaped, one-half inch wide, bright red. the apex marked 

 by the scar of the fallen calyx. I only know this species by a small specimen 

 sent to Kew by Prof. Sargent in 1908. but it appears to be a pretty plant, and 

 distinct among crabs by its purely bushy habit. It was originally discovered 

 by Sargent in 1892 near a brackish marsh, Muroran, Japan, and was named 

 in his honor by Mr. Rehder in 1903. The author observes that it is most 

 nearly related to P. toringo, hut differs in its larger, pure-white flowers with 

 broad overlapping petals and in its larger fruits. From another ally. /'. zumi, 

 it is distinguished by its broader, often-lobed leaves, the shape of the broader 

 based petals, the glabrous calyx tube, and the habit. Adapted from 11'. J. 

 Bean, Trees awl Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, ml. >. p. .!'.>.).) 



41573. Chayota edulis Jacq. Cucurbitacese. Chayote. 

 (Sechium edule Swartz.) 



From Camaguey, Cuba. Presented by .Mr. Robert L. Lu&ces. director, 

 Granja Escuela. Received December 20, 191."). 

 "Chayotes of the green variety. Of these four, one has been sprouted off 

 the vine an. I the others on the vine. We. here in Cuba, either sprout on the 

 vine or over water; that is, taking the chayote from the vine and putting it 

 in the mouth of a wide-mouthed bottle until it semis out the sprout, li is 

 also common to cut off the lower end of the fruit before planting and allow 

 the wound to heal over either simply in the air or by covering the wound with 

 ashes." {Luuces.) 



