72 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



i 



42280. Ixodes texana O. F. Cook. Phcenicacese. Palm. 



Collected by Dr. David Griffiths, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Grow- 

 ing at the Plant Introduction Field Station, Chico, Oal. 

 "This native palm of the Rio Grande delta, while planted locally to some ex- 

 tent, is a species which has been neglected. It will fill the same role in planting 

 as the fan palm and appears to be a little more hardy to frost conditions. 

 It will form a pleasing variation from that species so extensively grown in 

 the warmer regions of this country and serve to extend somewhat the region 

 of possible palm culture. It is a species with a very local distribution in na- 

 ture, being known only from this one delta region. It is producing well in the 

 natural state at present. The seeds germinate readily soon after they fall 

 from the trees in the late autumn. They are, however, extensively gathered 

 and made into ornaments by the native population. This no doubt interferes 

 decidedly with its reproduction." {Griffiths.) 



42281. Medicago sattva L. Fabacea?. Alfalfa. 



From Koorawatha, Narracan, Victoria, Australia. Presented by Messrs. 

 Cullis, Hill, and Doake, through F. H. Brunning & Co., Melbourne. Re- 

 ceived March 16, 1916. 

 "A strain known as Hunter Hirer lucern." 



42282 and 42283. 



From Kieff, Russia. Purchased from Messrs. St. Przedpelski and T. An- 

 toniewicz. Received March 18, 1916. 



42282. Caragana pygmaea (L. ) DC. Fabacese. Dwarf pea tree. 



"A deciduous shrub, 3 to 4 feet high, similar in habit to C. aurantiaca, 

 having long, slender, pendulous, or even prostrate branches. Flowers 

 yellow, 1 inch long, produced in May and June at the joints of the previ- 

 ous season's shoots. In a wild state this species extends over the region 

 between the Caucasus and Siberia and Thibet ; introduced in 1751. It 

 is a very pretty plant when in flower, the blossoms being pendulous on 

 their short stalks from the lower side of the branchlets. It is often 

 grafted on standards of Caragana arborescens, but can quite well be 

 struck from cuttings made of half-woody young twigs in July and placed 

 in gentle heat. By growing it on its own roots the ugly and often 

 diseased union seen on grafted plants is avoided. It is nearly allied to 

 C. aurantiaca, under which the differences are pointed out. Its 

 slender, flexible shoots are used for tying in Siberia and are said to be 

 equal to osiers for that purpose." (W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs 

 Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 1, p. 291.) 



42283. Haximodendbon halodendron (Pall.) Voss. Fabacese. Salt tree. 

 {Halimodendron argenteum Fisch.) 



"This is a wide-spreading shrub with slender hranches and small 

 bluish green foliage, covered in early summer with numerous pale violet 

 or rosy purple flowers. The small pale foliage and the slender-stalked 

 drooping flowers combined with the spreading habit give to the plant 

 a gracefulness and airiness of its own and make it a very desirable or- 

 namental shrub. It is perfectly hardy north, resists droughl and heat 

 well, and thrives in sandy as also in saline and alkaline soils. Propa- 

 gation is by seeds and by layers which reel slowly: it also may be 

 grafted on Laburnum or Caragana." {Bailey, standard Cyclopedia of 



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