8 CIRCULAR NO. 110, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



ACTINIDIA POLYGAMA. 



In the Arnold Arboretum, vines of Actinidia polygama Miq. have 

 been growing successfully for years, and from one point of view, at 

 least, it is one of the most interesting plants in the arboretum. Its 

 leaves and twigs are so relished by cats that a wire cage has been 

 constructed about it, and evidently they still molest it, for wherever 

 the twigs or leaves come near enough to the wire netting they are 

 scratched and mutilated by the cats and cats' hairs are sticking to 

 the wires, which are evidences of efforts to get at the plants. Mr. 

 Jackson Dawson's observations indicate that the Boston cats learned 

 that this was good to eat a few months after it was first introduced. 



ACTINIDIA KALOMIKTA. 



Actinidia Icalomikta Ruprecht, which has also proved hardy in 

 Boston, although so far as known it has not fruited, is reported to 

 fruit well in the mountains near Merkoechofka, Siberia. The fruits 

 are dried by the Russian settlers and put aside for winter use in the 

 making of confectionery and to put in their bread. Mr. Frank N. 

 Meyer has described a variety of this species from Tungying, China, 

 which is shorter and shrubbier than the ordinary one. He found 

 the same species indigenous in the mountains of Okyansky in eastern 

 Siberia. In the mountains of northern Chosen (Korea), where he 

 saw it in August, 1906, he reported it to be a scant bearer. 



ACTINIDIA CHINENSIS. 



The most striking species of this interesting genus yet brought into 

 America is Actinidia cJiinensis Planch., known in China as the yang- 

 taw, and it is of very recent introduction. The attention of English 

 horticulturists was first called to it by Mr. Robert Fortune, who found 

 it when traveling hi behalf of the Royal Horticultural Society. Mr. 

 E. H. Wilson was the first to send seeds of it to Veitch & Sons, in 

 London, from his first expedition to western China. As early as 

 1900 seeds were sent to the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduc- 

 tion from Ichang, but they failed to grow. In 1904, however, the 

 office received through the initiative of Consul General L. S. Wilcox, 

 of Hankow, a shipment of plants which had been carefully packed at 

 Chungking by Mr. E. H. Wilson, at that time engaged in an explora- 

 tion of Szechwan Province. The shipment arrived in excellent con- 

 dition, and as it is from these plants that the distributions through 

 the Southern States have been made, sufficient historical interest 

 attaches to it to warrant publishing Mr. Wilcox's letter in full. 



[Cir. 110] 



