969 



al Department is carrying on certain breeding experiments 

 with potatoes and these resistant wild strains may prove 

 useful for this purpose. These tubers were gathered on 

 very heavy c]ay soil, from a piece of land which is com- 

 pletely water-soaked during at least three months in a year 

 and extremely dry for about seven or eight months in suc- 

 cession. The tubers possess, therefore, certain resistant 

 properties which it may be found useful to impart to the 

 cultivated varities in the States." (Schultz.) 



Stymx hookeri C B. Clarke. (Styracaceae . ) 41815. Seeds 

 from Darjeeling, India. Presented by Mr. G. H. Cave, Lloyd 

 Botanic Gardens. "Tnis is a small tree frequently met with 

 in Sikkim and Bhutan at altitudes between 6,000 and 7,000 

 feet. The wood is white, close-grained, and moderately 

 hard." (Watt's Dictionary of the Products of India.) In- 

 asmuch as Styrax japonica ranks as one of the most beautiful 

 of all flowering shrubs or small trees and is perfectly 

 hardy in the Atlantic States and easy to grow from seed it 

 is suggested that the getting together of all the species 

 of this genus which bear attractive flowers and their hybrid- 

 ization might lead to practical results. (Fairchild.) 



Thelepogoti elegaus Roth. (Poaceae.) 41918 Seeds from 

 Kirkee, India. Presented by Mr. William Burns, Economic 

 Botanist. "A coarse perennial grass with stems one to 

 three feet high, usually woody at base. When growing in 

 rice fields it is difficult to distinguish until in flower. 

 Cattle and horses eat the herbage when it is young and in 

 some parts of Central Province the seeds are used as human 

 food. Native to India and Africa." (C. V. Piper.) 



Tricholaena rosea Nees. (Poaceae.) 41921. Seeds from 

 Kirkee, India. Presented by Mr. William Burns, Economic 

 Botanist. "When a single plant of Natal grass is allowed 

 abundant room it will form a large tuft, sometimes 3 to 4 

 feet in diameter, the lower branches soon becoming de- 

 cumbent, while the central stems are more nearly erect. 

 The stems are slender, 3 to 4 feet high, and well covered 

 with leaves, which are so nearly erect that few are lost 

 in mowing the hay. The seeds are produced in large clusters 

 of about the size and sha^e of a panicle of oats. In most 

 cases the seed clusters are bright red or rosy crimson in 

 color, and for that reason the grass has sometimes been 

 called 'redtop 1 . It is, however, very different from the 

 common northern grass known as redtop. The name 'Natal 

 grass, 1 which indicates the country of which it is a 

 native, is more appropriate an-i distinctive and is the one 

 now in most common use. The plants are killed by a single 

 plowing, and by keeping the land cultivated in other crops 

 through the whole of a single season all the seeds in the 



