54 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



42683 to 42698— Continued. 



42698. Viburnum davidi Franch. Caprifoliaceae. 



Introduced from China through the efforts of Mr. Maurice L. Vil- 

 morin, this new vihurnum is one of the most distinct and most remark- 

 able of the genus. It is a low plant, entirely hardy, with large pet- 

 si stent, shining leaves resembling those of a rhododendron, the shoots 

 of the year terminating in an umbel of white flowers, appearing in 

 April. These flowers are succeeded by steel-blue fruits, ripening in au- 

 tumn. It attains a height of 25 to 50 cm., and nourishes in shady, peaty 

 soil. Received a certificate of merit from the National Society of Hor- 

 ticulture of France in 1913. 



42699 to 42706. Holcus sorghum L. Poacese. Sorghum. 



(Sorghum vulgare Pers.) 



From Donga, Northern Nigeria. Presented by Mr. G. L. Whitman, Sudan 

 United Mission, London. 



" Belonging to the Shallu group." 



42699. Straw-colored glumes, light red seed. 



42700. Reddish brown glumes, medium red seed. 



42701. Black glumes, light red seed. 



42702. Straw-colored to brown glumes, yellow-pink seed. 



42703. Dark red glumes, light red seed. 



42704. Straw-colored to brown glumes, light-red seed, 



42705. Light straw-colored glumes, white seed. 



42706. Black glumes, white seed. 



42707. Attalea cohune Mart. Phcenicaceae. Cohune palm. 



From Ceiba, Honduras. Presented by Mr. F. J. Dyer, American consul. 

 Received May 11, 1916. 



" It is known as the Cohune or Monaco palm, these names being variously 

 applied to different stages of its growth. For a series of years it remains 

 a caulescent and barren, its huge leaves rising nearly erect from the ground. 

 Even alter the trunk has reached a height of 10 or 15 feet or more, and has 

 long been in bearing, it usually remains covered to the ground with the per- 

 sistent bases of the sheathing petioles. Finally these are gradually dropped, 

 and the tree shows a clean cylindrical trunk of 30 to 50 feet or more. The 

 blade of the leaf is 15 to 20 feet long, vertical in position, and describing a 

 most graceful curve, its numerous divisions entirely distinct (an inch or more 

 broad and an inch or two apart) and conduplicate at the base. The leaves 

 arc used for thatching, but are much inferior to the less divided and flatter 

 leaves of the Manicaria. The fruiting spadix is loaded with five to eight hun- 

 dred or more nuts, which are elliptic-ovate and 2i inches long, not including the 

 broadly conical beak. The thick bony endocarp incloses usually a single seed, 

 sometimes two or rarely three. (Asa Gray, Proceedings of the American Acad- 

 emy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 21, pp. Ji64-'i65.) 



"The tree producing these nuts is very plentiful in this locality and the 

 yield is quite heavy. 1 believe that a large business can be developed in 

 extracting oil." (Dyer.) 



