51 



3115. Flat-headed Brittany. (Camus de Bretagen.) A very tall variety, 

 often 4 feet high, with luxuriant leaves and large, broad, globular 

 heads, flattened on top. This variety is very extensively cultivated in 

 Anjou and Brittany, from which provinces large quantities are sent 

 in May to the central market in Paris. 

 .3116. Perpetual (Remontante) . See also Nos. 3118 and 3119. 



3117. Cochlearia armoracta. Horseradish. 



From France. Received through Mr. W. T. Swingle, April, 1899. 

 Bohemian horseradish. Distributed. 



3118, 3119. Cynara scolymus. Artichoke. 



See Note under No. 3113. 



3118. Violet quarantain de Provence. Probably the same as the violet quar- 



antain or camargue, which is a medium-sized annual variety, bear- 

 ing rather small heads with round, dark scales tinted with violet. 



3119. Blanc quarantain de Provence. 



3120. Phoenix mariposae. Palm. 



From France. Received through Mr. W. T. Swingle, April, 1899. 



"This palm, which has been called Phoenix melanosperma by Naudin, is probably a 

 hybrid of the ordinary date palm and the Canary palm (P. canariensis) . This palm 

 originated from seed sown in 1875 by Madame B. Hall, then owner of the Villa Mari- 

 posa. There is a fine specimen in the Villa Victor de Cessole at Nice, but whether 

 this is the same palm as the original one grown by Madame Hall is not known. 

 Among the thousands of date palms growing along the northern shore of the Medi- 

 terranean, this is the only one which produces edible fruits of good quality. Unlike 

 the ordinary date palm, which flowers in spring and ripens its fruit in autumn, this 

 date flowers in autumn. The unripe fruits hang on the trees through the winter, 

 ripening early the next summer. The fruits are small, about an inch to an inch and 

 one-fourth long, and have a rather thin pulp, which is said to be delicious. The 

 remarkable fact about this date is that the sugar contained in the fruits is not cane 

 sugar, as in the ordinary date, but grape sugar. It being impossible to obtain suckers 

 from this tree, young plants, grown from seed from the best one of the group at 

 the Villa, were obtained and were included in the shipment. It is, of course, not 

 certain as to what the quality of the fruits of these seedlings will be. It is hoped, 

 however, that some of them may, like the parent tree, ripen fruit in humid regions 

 near the sea. This palm should produce fruit abundantly along the coast of Califor- 

 nia as far north as San Francisco, where the ordinary date does not mature its fruits, 

 because of the insufficient heat of the summer. The stem of the best palm at the Villa 

 de Cessote is much more slender than the stem of the Canary Island palm. The leaf- 

 stalks and fruit stems, however, are usually of a yellow coloration, unlike the ordi- 

 nary forms of the true date palm, and much like the Canary Island palm. ' ' (Sivingle. ) 



3121. Lespedeza sericea. Hagi. 



From Japan. Received through Prof. S. A. Knapp from Japan, May, 1899. 

 A perennial Japanese legume, valuable for forage. 



3122. Fatsia japonica. Fatsia. 



From France. Received through Mr. W. T. Swingle, May, 1899. 



An ornamental Araliaceous shrub, with large evergreen leaves ; said to stand a 

 temperature of 7° F. Said to be more handsome than Fatsia papyrifera, the rice- 

 paper tree, to which it is closely related. The seeds ripen in April in France, and 

 must be planted at once, as they speedily lose their vitality. 



3123. Fatsia japonica. Fatsia. 



From France. Received through Mr. W. T. Swingle, May, 1899. 



Moseri. A sort having a more stocky habit of growth and much larger leaves than 

 the parent species. (See No. 3122. ) 



