1189 



Vittadinia triloba (Gaud.) DeCandolle. (Asteraceae . ) 

 44838. Seeds from Sydney, Australia. Presented by Mr. 

 J. H. Maiden, Director, Botanic Gardens. An herbaceous 

 plant, either erect and apparently annual or with 

 diffusely ascending stems from a perennial woody base, 

 usually not more than a foot high. The leaves are 

 entire or coarsely 3-lobed, and the purplish flower- 

 heads are solitary and terminal. It is a native of 

 southern Australia, and might be useful as an orna- 

 mental in borders. (Adapted from F. M. Bailey, Queens- 

 land Flora, Part 3, p. 811, under V. australis.) 



Voandzeia subterranea (L. ) Thouars. (Fabaceae. ) 44817. 

 Woandzu seeds from Umkomaas, Natal, South Africa. Pre- 

 sented by Rev. H. D. Goodenough. "The natives plant 

 these when the first rains come, on new ground, pre- 

 ferably a sandy loam. They look very much like pea- 

 nuts, but in cooking they are boiled in their shells." 

 (Goodenough.) A yellow-flowered annual with upright, 

 long-stalked compound leaves composed of 3 leaflets. 

 Like the common peanut, the flower stalks bend down 

 to the earth after flowering, and the pods are ripened 

 underneath the ground. In the requisite cultural con- 

 ditions the plant much resembles the common peanut. 

 (Adapted from H. F. Macmillan, Handbook of Tropical 

 Gardening and Planting, pp. 232, 233.) 



Zea mays L. (Poaceae.) 44830. Com from Johannes- 

 burg, South Africa. Purchased from the Agricultural 

 Supply Association. " Izotsha maize is a strain (ap- 

 parently of Boone County White) which is successfully 

 grown in a limited area on the South Coast of Natal, 

 bordering Pondoland, an area which is subject to great 

 extremes of drought and heat during the summer. It is 

 claimed by farmers in that locality that it is the 

 only variety of maize which has been found satisfac- 

 tory in that particular vicinity, but as they are 

 isolated from the main maize belt of South Africa, it 

 is quite possible they have not tried some of the 

 more drought-resistant types which are now being grown 

 in other parts of the Union. It occurred to me that 

 owing to its obvious drought-resisting qualities, 

 this variety might be of use to farmers in the south- 

 eastern states, especially in parts of Florida and 

 the adjacent states subject to considerable drought." 

 (Letter of Mr. J. Burtt-Davy dated August 18, 1917.) 

 Introduced for the use of the Office of Cereal Inves- 

 tigations . 



