1095 



rounded; surface slightly rough, deep green in color 

 with few small yellowish dots; skin moderately gran- 

 ular, woody, and brittle; flesh abundant, deep yellow 

 in color, changing to pale green near the skin, said 

 to be of unusually rich flavor; quality probably very 

 good to excellent; seed rather small in comparison to 

 the size of the fruit, roundish oblate in form, 1| 

 inches long, If inches broad, with both seed coats 

 adhering closely, and fitting tightly in the cavity. 

 Season at Coban said to be January to April. At the 

 time of my visit the fruits were not quite ripe. The 

 parent tree is 30 years old, with a trunk 18 inches 

 in diameter at the base, and a dense spreading crown 

 40 feet aroad." (Popenoe.) 



Persea americana Miller. (Lauraceae.) 43933-43935. 

 Cuttings of Avocado from San Cristobal Verapaz, Guate- 

 mala. Collected by Mr. Wilson Popenoe, Agricultural 

 Explorer of this Department. 43933. "From the door- 

 yard of an Indian in the southwest quarter of the 

 village of San Cristobal. A very attractive small 

 fruit, selected first for its earliness in ripening, 

 and secondly for its productiveness and good quality. 

 It is more or less pear-shaped, v/eighs about half a 

 pound, is nearly smooth externally and of a bright 

 green color, while the seed is unusually small and 

 the flesh is of good quality for an early ripening 

 variety. It is noteworthy that nearly all the early 

 varieties I have found in Guatemala are inferior in 

 richness of flavor to those which ripen later, and it 

 also seems that a great many of them have large seeds. 

 This was especially notable in the fruits examined 

 around Antigua. Form elliptic pyriform, not distinctly 

 necked; size below medium, weight 8 to 9 ozs., length 

 3f inches, breadth 2| inches; base narrowly pointed, 

 the stem inserted almost squarely without depression; 

 apex obliquely flattened though not conspicuously so; 

 surface nearly smooth, bright green in color, with 

 numerous minute yellowish dots; skin 1/16 to nearly | 

 inch thick, coarsely granular and woody, brittle; 

 flesh cream color, tinged with pale green near the 

 skin, free from fiber and of smooth, firm texture; 

 flavor nutty, pleasant, not so oily as in some of the 

 later varieties; quality good; seed small in comparison 

 with the size of the fruit, broadly elliptic to spher- 

 ical in form, weight 1 oz., both the seed coats rather 

 thin and adhering closely to the smooth cotyledons. 

 The parent tree is about 45 feet high, with a spread 



