JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31, 1916. 61 



42179. Plata n us orien talis L. Platanacess. Oriental plane tree. 



From Lahore, -India. Presented by the superintendent, Government Agri- 

 Horticultural Gardens. Received March 17, 1916. 



" A deciduous tree of the largest size, in this country occasionally SO to 100 

 feet high and 14 to 20 feet in girth of trunk. Native of southeastern Europe 

 and Asia Minor; cultivated in England in the middle of the sixteenth century. 

 The true oriental plane is comparatively rare in gardens, having been ousted 

 by the more rapidly growing London plane, which is not so picturesque nor so 

 pleasing as an isolated lawn tree. It is easily distinguished from acerifolia 

 by its shorter, more rugged trunk and its deeper, often doubly lobed leaves. 

 Few trees are longer lived than this. On the banks of the Bosporus there 

 is a group of trees under which the knights of Godfrey de Bouillon on their 

 way to the crusades are said to have been sheltered in 1096. Under a tree 

 still living on the island of Cos in the Aegean Sea, its trunk IS yards in circum- 

 ference, tradition says that Hippocrates sat more than 400 years B. C. There 

 is no direct evidence to support these stories, but they point to the perhapa 

 unequalled longevity of the plane among European trees. In his account of 

 fine British specimens Mr. Elwes gives first place to one in the palace gardens 

 at Ely, planted by Bishop Gunning between 1674 and 1678. It is over 100 feet 

 high and more than 20 feet in girth. A fine specimen at Kew, near the sundial 

 and on the site of the famous seventeenth-century gardens of Sir Henry Capel 

 of Kew House, has a trunk 15 feet in girth." (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs 

 Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 203.) 



42180. Baryxylum dubium (Spreng.) Pierre. Csesalpiniacese. 

 (Peltophorum vogelianum Walp.) 



From Davie, Fla. Presented by Mr. Robert Werner, horticulturist, Davie 

 Board of Trade. Received March 20, 1916. 



Seeds of a large tree 50 to 60 feet high, broad and spreading, giving fine 

 shade. A handsome ornamental tree. Flowers bright yellow with golden 

 yellow anthers. Called eana fistula in Brazil, but this name properly belongs 

 to another plant. 



See S. P. I. No. 37901 for description. 



42181 and 42182. 



From Paris, France. Purchased from Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co. Received 

 March 18, 1916. 



42181. Indigofera tinctoria L. Fabacese. Indigo. 



"A blue dye is obtained from species of Indigofera, chiefly Indigofera 

 anil (of the West Indies) and /. tinctoria (of India and Africa). Both 

 are shrubby plants of the leguminous family and occur in a wild slate 

 in Ceylon up to about 2,000 feet. India and Java are almost the only 

 indigo-producing countries. Owing partly to the unhealthiness of the 

 operations in connection with its production, but chiefly to the introduc- 

 tion of synthetic indigo, the cultivation of the plaid has in recent years 

 been largely abandoned. Of late, however, the industry appears to have 

 somewhat: recovered, the aatural indigo being preferred by many manu- 

 facturers to the artificial production. The best conditions for the 

 profitable cultivation of the plant are a rich loamy soil with a free sub- 

 soil and a moist hot atmosphere; a temperature below 60° F. is un- 

 favorable to the cmp. The land being plowed and harrowed, the seed is 

 sown in lines about 2 feet apart. The seed being small, 10 to 1.1 pounds 



