597 



ily crosses with the latter and spoils the corn crop, which is 

 the staple agricultural crop of this district. It is reported 

 that the natives have made 'tortillas' from the ground seed of 

 the teosinte, but such instances are very rare." (Hamm. ) For 

 distribution later. 



EUGENIA MATO. (Myrtaceae.) 33958. Seeds of a Eugenia 

 from Buenos Aires. Presented by Dr. Carlos Thays, Director, 

 Botanic Garden. "A tree with edible fruits, forming the prin- 

 cipal part of the forests in the vicinity of Tucuman in Argen- 

 tina." (Venturi, Trees of Argentina.) For distribution later. 



EUGENIA PUNGENS. (Myrtaceae.) 33959. Seeds from Buenos 

 Aires. Presented by Dr. Carlos Thays, Director, Botanic 

 Garden. A hard-wooded tree, from the province of Sao Paulo, 

 Brazil, which bears edible fruits. For distribution later. 



EXOGONIUM PURGA. ( Convolvulaceae . ) 33961. Seeds of the 

 jalap from Buenos Aires. Presented by Dr. Carlos Thays, 

 Director, Botanic Garden. "A Mexican climbing plant, with 

 salver-shaped purplish flowers, which furnishes the true jalap 

 tubers of commerce. These are roundish, of variable size, the 

 largest being about as large as an orange, and of a dark col- 

 or. They owe their well-known purgative properties to their 

 resinous ingredients, and hence worm-eaten tubers are more 

 valued than sound ones, as the insects eat the farinaceous and 

 woody portions of the tuber and leave the resin." (Masters, in 

 Lindley, Treasury of Botany.) For distribution later. 



GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM. (Malvaceae.) 34289. Seeds of Cam- 

 bodian cotton from Coimbatore, India. Presented by R. Cecil 

 Wood, Esq., President Agricultural College, through Mr. C. V. 

 Piper. "This cotton has a close resemblance to the American 

 Upland type and has been looked upon as an American cotton 

 that has been acclimatized in Cambodia, though this may not 

 prove to be the case. There is historical evidence of the 

 introduction of a superior type of cotton from Siam to Louisi- 

 ana in early days, and this may have been the origin of the 

 long staple varieties formerly grown so extensively in the 

 Delta regions of Louisiana and Mississippi. Thus the Cambodia 

 cotton may prove to be related to the American long staple 

 type. A variety of Upland cotton from Cochin China was stud- 

 ied in Egypt in 1910, which may prove to be similar to the 

 present importation. An account of this cotton was published 

 in Bulletin No. 210 of this Bureau series under the title 

 Hindi Cotton in Egypt. The Cambodia cotton has been grown for 

 a few years in southern India and has given much better 



