50 University of California Publications in Botany. t v L - 4 



edied by pruning back, thus inducing a growth of new foliage. 

 The flowers are neat and pretty but are withering-persistent. 

 If one is not content to wait a few weeks for them to fall they 

 may easily be plucked by hand (since they grow in clusters) or 

 knocked off with a rake. The fruit is presumably poisonous 

 but it is also exceedingly bitter, so that there is no danger of its 

 being eaten by children or domestic animals. The bark is well 

 known to yield a virulent poison. 



The minimum temperature which this plant will endure has 

 not been definitely determined, but it is probably not far below 

 the freezing point. It passes safely through the winters at 

 Santa Barbara and Los Angeles and should be tried on a small 

 scale farther inland and in middle California. It is indifferent 

 to neglect and lack of irrigation. 



Propagation is readily effected by seeds. Cuttings are rooted 

 without difficulty. 



Feijoa Sellowiana Berg. 

 FEIJOA. 



An erect shrub or small tree, with brown bark: leaves opposite, thick, 

 2 or 3 in. long and half as broad, oblong, obtuse, short-stemmed, deep 

 green and shining above, white-tomentose beneath: flowers solitary, ax- 

 illary, iy 2 or 2 in. broad, the flower-stalk 1 in. long: calyx-lobes orbic- 

 ular, reflexed: petals 5, orbicular, spreading, internally blood-red with 

 white margins: stamens numerous, red, the anthers yellow: ovary in- 

 ferior, 4-celled: fruit oblong, 2 in. long, many-seeded, yellowish green, 

 fleshy, very aromatic. Family Myrtaceae. Southern Brazil, Uruguay, 

 etc. Illustrations: PI. 11, fig. 2; Bot. Mag., pi. 7620; Gard. Chron., ser. 

 3, xxiv, fig. 134. 



In speaking of ornamental shrubs for California, mention 

 should perhaps be made of this South American fruit, since it 

 is highly ornamental as well as useful. This is not the place 

 to speak of its economic features, but those who are interested 

 in the introduction of new, high-class, money-making fruits, will 

 do well to give attention to the Feijoa, which is certain to be- 

 come very popular. 



The beauty of this shrub lies in its foliage and flowers. The 

 green upper surface of the leaves contrasts finely with the white 

 lower surface, and the parti-colored flowers are strikingly hand- 

 some and unusual both in color and form. 



