﻿Inventory 54, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate II. 



Koume Nuts From Zanzibar. (Telfairia pedata (J. E. Smith) Hook., 

 S. P. I. No. 45923.) 



These nuts are produced in a large gourdlike fruit 3 feet long and a foot in diameter. Each gourd 

 contains 200 of these seeds. The vine which bears them is a tropical, rank-growing cucurbit 

 which climbs to the top of forest trees— a regular liana. In East Africa the koume nuts are used 

 by Europeans as table nuts and for flavoring cakes, and a sweet, pleasant-tasting edible oil is 

 extracted from them. They have been seriously considered as a source of vegetable oil, but 

 the bitter inner skin surrounding the oily kernel and the hard nature of the shell are obstacles 

 to be overcome before they are eligible for oil-producing purposes. As a decorative screen for 

 the edge of the forest and because of its edible nuts, it is worthy of study by tropical horticul- 

 turists. (Photographed by E. L. Crandall, October 1, 1920, from seeds sent in from East 

 Africa by Dr. H. L. Shantz; P26505FS.) 



