GNAPHALIUM BENEOLENS, N. Sp. 

 By Anstruther Davidson, C. M., M. D. 



Two or three feet high, branching freely and loosely from a 

 perennial or biennial herbaceous base ; whole plant woolty to- 

 mentose, leaves ly? to 2 in. long, linear 1 line wide, acute ses- 

 sile and subdecurrent, and 2 to 3 lines wide at base ; heads nu- 

 merous in paniculate or corymbose paniculate clusters ; involucre 

 4 lines wide and 3 deep, scales broadly ovate white ; whole plant 

 very fragrant. 



Type 3275, author's herbarium. Collected by Fred Burlew 

 at Crescenta. Eos Angeles County, September, 1917. 



This plant comes closest to G. microcephahini with which it 

 has been grouped by the m.ajority of recent authors. The leaves 

 are characteristic, they are never spatulate or rounded at the 

 apex, as are those of G. microcephalum. It differs also from that 

 species in having larger heads more ovate and more uniform- 

 sized scales. 



G. microcephahnn is silverv white on the younger shoots and 

 has a dense tomentum surrounding the involucre, it is also odor- 

 less. 



The plant is probablv fairly common. Mr. Perkins showed 

 some plants at the Botanical Society from Clear Creek and Idyl- 

 wild. 



POI 



Hawaii is making a food-saving contribution in the shape 

 of poi, its national dish, made from the bulb of the taro nlant. 

 Until 20 3^ears ago poi was made under primitive conditions, 

 the bulbs being peeled, boiled, and pounded in a wooden 

 trencher until a semiliquid paste was formed. But today mod- 

 ern sanitary machinery is used to manufacture the produce, 

 under supervision of health authorities in the island, and five 

 factories at Hilo now turn out several tons daily. This new 

 form of poi is being sent to the United States, reaching mar- 

 kets as far away as New York City, and a demand which be- 

 gan with Hawaiians who had come to the United States is 

 gradually being extended to Americans, who have learned to 

 like the dish. Poi is frequently used in Hawaiian hospitals in 

 the diet of patients whose stomachs are too weak to digest 

 other food, and the war interest in substitute foods is expected 

 to lead to its wider introduction here. 



Scientific American Supplement No. 2igi. 



17 



