Jan. 1935 Annual Report of the Director 193 



for thousands of years over an area extending from China and India 

 to the south of Europe, still remains almost unknown in the United 

 States. It has been installed together with other material of the 

 buckthorn family, which thus becomes represented for the first time 

 in the Hall of Plant Life. 



To the exhibit devoted to the soapberry family has been added 

 a reproduction of the Amazonian guarana plant, a luxurious tropical 

 vine cultivated in a few localities for its small scarlet, chestnut-like 

 fruits. These, or rather their shiny black seeds, are the source of 

 the stimulating beverage known to the Amazon Indians as guarana, 

 now extensively used in the manufacture of a carbonated kola-like 

 beverage. The material for this interesting item was obtained by 

 the Marshall Field Botanical Expedition to the Amazon in 1929, 

 as was that for another addition made to the exhibits this year — 

 a fruiting branch of lucuma, reproduced for the exhibits and installed 

 with the sapote family to which it belongs. 



The jaboticaba, another fruit, tropical to semitropieal in range, 

 but of a very different character, is represented in another new 

 exhibit added to the case devoted to the myrtle family. It comes 

 from southeastern Brazil. Grape-like in appearance, spherical and 

 somewhat larger in size than large Concord grapes, this fruit grows 

 abundantly, in small clusters of half a dozen or less, directly from 

 the bark of the trunk and branches. The jaboticaba has a tough 

 skin and one or more large seeds, but its juicy pulp of wine-like 

 flavor makes it one of the most popular of fruits wherever it is known. 



Among minor additions to the exhibits in the same hall are a 

 number of reproductions of fruits secured in Para in 1929 by the 

 expedition mentioned above. These include several types of sapo- 

 dillas; taperiba, or golden-apple; the famous Brazilian mango, 

 "manga rosa" of Pernambuco; and the handsome cubiu of the 

 Amazon which obviously is related to the tomato, and combines 

 in its shape and coloring features suggestive also of a huge Japanese 

 persimmon. 



Various other exhibits for the Hall of Plant Life are under way, 

 one of which, a reproduction of an acanthus plant, will be of partic- 

 ular interest when completed. 



In Hall 25 some important additions were made to the exhibit 

 of food plants. In conjunction with the coffee and tea exhibits, 

 two further cases have been given to a display of beverage plants. 

 One is devoted to a display of the botanical features of coffee, mat^, 

 cassine tea, kola, guarana and cacao. A branch of an Arabian coffee 



