o1 
REPORT OF THE CURATOR OF PLANT BREEDING 
AND ECONOMIC PLANTS FOR 1926 
Dr. C. Stuart GAGER, DIRECTOR. 
Sir: I beg to submit herewith my report for the year ending 
December 31, 1926. 
In addition to the investigational work on field and garden peas, 
and hollyhocks, and on hardiness in woody and herbaceous peren- 
nial plants, mentioned in the Reports on Research for 1926 (p. 
00), I have continued in charge of the “ Ecological Section ”’— 
with its various beds of exhibits and demonstrations designed to 
show how plants are fitted to meet the problems of existence. 
Many of the most curious plants in the Garden collections are to 
be seen growing here. ‘The section comprises several types of en- 
vironment and ultimately more are to be added, in the form of 
Old and New World desert plots with some of the plants that 
typically characterize them. At present, the different types of 
plant surroundings are represented by a small bog, a swamp, a 
section of a brook, and beds with ordinary and other types of 
soils. The bog contains sundews and pitcher plants and needs to 
be extended and improved and made much more naturalistic. The 
swamp contains a multitude of typical swamp and shore-line plants, 
the whole area being dominated in naturalistic effect by the 
European wild Yellow Flag, the floating water fern (Azolla), ar- 
rowheads (Sagittaria), and the tropical Water Hyacinth (Ei- 
chornia) that 1s such a problem to river navigation in some of the 
warmer parts of the world. A fine clump of Orontium aquaticum 
or Goldenclub is one of the newer features of this area. The 
small island has been planted to English ivy, and during the next 
summer it is planned to infest it with a luxuriant growth of 
Dodder (Cuscuta). During the last two years a species of this 
orange-colored parasite has been found to grow well on this ivy. 
The contrast between the colors of the two plants gives a very 
striking effect, and thus intrigues the casual visitor into a desire 
for more intimate details of what he or she sees. 
Among the more interesting and curious plants in the beds west 
of the swamp are the ant-feeding Bull’s-horn Thorn (Acacia) of 
