﻿6 SEEDS AND PLANTS 'IMPORTED. 



The success of the Chinese grafted jujube in this country will 

 make many experimenters . interested in Ziziphus mauritiana (No. 

 44940), a tropical species the fruit of which is used, both fresh and 

 dried, in India and of which the best variety comes from Kandahar. 



Flavoring plants are not used as much in America as in France 

 and Italy, except where Creole cooking still lingers. A tropical 

 vine (No. 45220) with flowers and flower buds which impart a 

 flavor of oysters to milk or potato soup may, however, interest those 

 who live where the vine can be grown. One of the most conspicuous 

 ingredients of the Japanese " rice tafel," or curry, of Java, is the 

 pickled fruits of Gnetum gnemon (No. 45152), a shrub or small 

 tree which furnishes not only singular potatolike fruits but edible 

 leaves, which are stewed and eaten like spinach. 



The Chinese pai ts'ai has met with such success in America and is 

 now marketed by so many truck growers that a considerable number 

 of people will be interested in a collection of varieties (Nos. 45185 

 to 45189) secured by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, which includes sorts 

 which may be planted in April or May, others in August, and still 

 others as late as September. 



Ideal house palms are hard to find, and the pacayito of Guatemala 

 (No. 44994) would seem to approach this ideal in that it has a grace- 

 ful form while quite young, is suitable for the so-called fern dishes 

 which adorn the center of the table, and because it fruits when not 

 over a foot high, maturing its small, round, interesting seeds in the 

 winter season. 



The behaAdor on high pine land at Gotha, Fla., of the hardy palm, 

 Butia capitata (No. 45009) , a close relative of the genus Cocos, makes 

 it seem worth while to distribute more widely over these pine lands 

 this interesting species from Argentina, which bears showy, edible 

 fruits. 



Those who know Dr. Pittier well will be interested in his account 

 of his experience with the fruit of an undescribed species of 

 Calycophysum (No. 45219), which resembles a wild passion fruit but 

 is intense orange-yellow in color and outdoes the red pepper in flavor. 

 It occurs in the forests near Caracas, Venezuela. 



The brilliant blue-flowered Salvia patens has made everyone who 

 saw it long for a more robust form. It is possible that in S. hemp- 

 steadiana (No. 44995) Mr. Popenoe has found one which can be 

 grown more satisfactorily as an annual in this country. 



To any who have watched the growth of hybrid walnut trees and 

 who believe, as Dr. Sargent does, in the future of hybrid trees for 

 timber production, the introduction of a tropical black walnut from 

 Porto Rico (No. 45033) can hardly fail to be of interest, particularly 

 when the scarcity of black- walnut timber is considered. Whether it 



