liberately but springs up from seeds adhering to the rind 
when this is cast into refuse heaps or when inedible parts 
of the fruit are spat out in the process of eating. The 
species is grown over a wide area which includes much 
of forested eastern Peru, most of the Amazon drainage- 
area of Colombia, the upper reaches of the Orinoco sys- 
tem in Venezuela and probably adjacent parts of Brazil. 
I have never encountered it in Brazil, however, but it may 
be grown there on a much reduced scale because of the 
sparsity in the westernmost Amazon of Brazil of unaccul- 
turated Indian tribes. 
The type and flavor of the fruit and the heavy bearing 
characteristics of Solanum Topiro make the plant rather 
promising as a new subtropical fruit-crop, especially to 
residents in Florida. As Fennell wrote (loc. cit.): ‘‘As 
an economic commodity, from the long-range viewpoint, 
obviously the cocona offers much in the way of improve- 
ment potential. The complementary values afforded by 
the various closely related species of this section of the 
genus are not commonly available to most crop-improve- 
ment projects. It now remains for us to devise a way to 
blend and proportion these values satisfactorily toward 
developing the end product of superior hybrid combina- 
tions.” In any crop-improvement program, the value of 
having living material of this rather variable species from 
all or many parts of its range should not be overlooked, 
Since Ochse’s notes (loc. cit.) in 1958, apparently noth- 
ing has appeared which would point to further horticul- 
tural work in Florida with Solanum Topiro. At that 
time, Ochse pointed out that nematodes were an im- 
portant enemy of the plant. The situation is well sum- 
marized, | believe, by Fennell (loc. cit.) when he states 
that **. . . a safe assumption is that even in its present 
unimproved state the cocona is a permanent acquisition 
as a valuable horticultural plant.” 
[ 244 | 
