ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 
BULLETIN 
MISCELLANEOUS IHFOBMATION. 
XLVIIL-A NEW FRUIT FROM URUGUAY. 
{Pouteria suavis, Hemsl.) 
In July of the present year, Kew received from the Editor of 
'U Giardinaggio" (an Italian hori i<-n It ural journal, published in 
Turin) leaves, fruit and seeds of a South American tree, asking 
whether it was known to science. This material was supple- 
mented by a paragraph from 'II Giardinaggio ' of which the 
following is a translation : — 
" Mr. E. Frosio, a horticulturist of Paysandu, Uruguay, in a 
private Utter received by the ' II Giardinaggio,' sends the following 
interesting not.', which we think our readers will like to see : 
" ' There is a plant bearing a fruit and having persistent leaves, 
which is certainly endemic in the islands of the Uruguay River 
and is so peculiar that nobody has yet been able to clarify it. 
The general appearance of the plant is that of a laurel, with leaves 
which are green and shining on the upper surface. The fruit is 
about the size of an apricot, but of the shape of an apple ; it is 
yellow and scarlet when mature and possesses a perfume so 
delicate that it is equalled in no other fruit, The seed is like a 
large hazel-nut, but the edible fleshy part of the fruit is small j it 
has, however, an extremely agreeable taste and possesses such a 
remarkable digestive property that when the aborigines have over- 
indulged, they eat freely of this before lying down at night and 
then they sleep « like a child ' and wake up the next morning with 
a clear head and a wonderful appetite.' " 
The leaves of this plant agree exactly with those of a specimen 
in the Kew Herbarium, collected by Dr. P. G . Lorentz m < >n- 
cepcion del Uruguay, in 1878, and wrongly named f^^^ 
neriana, A. DC. (syn. Pouteria gardnvr.nn /, u Uk.. A" 
gardneriana was collected between Angrias and ha ° ^onsaiv o, i m 
Piauhy, about 1,750 miles north of Concepc* 
Lorentz's specimen is certainly different, though closely allied. 
1375 Wt72 12/06 D & S 29 26509 
