﻿8 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



45975. Elaeis guineensis Jacq. Phoenicacese. Oil palm. 



From Buitenzorg, Java. Presented by Dr. P. J. S. Cramer, chief. Plant 

 Breeding Station. Received April 10, 1918. 

 " The oil palms I introduced here commenced to fruit when I had not yet my 

 own garden in Sumatra at my disposition. I have planted in several Govern- 

 ment rubber estates, where no other oil palms are in the neighborhood, plats 

 of 5 to 10 palms, each plat descending from one seed bearer. I send you with 

 this mail some seeds of Bundi D, tree No. 13. You will notice that this variety 

 has a very thin shell, so that you may crack it with the teeth." {Cramer.) 



45976 to 45979. 



From India. Seeds presented by Mr. George F. Mitchell, Washington, D. C, 

 who obtained them from Dr. G. H. Cave, curator, Lloyd Botanic Garden, 

 Darjiling, India. Received April 10, 1918. Quoted notes by Mr. Mitchell. 



45976. Coeylus ferox Wall. Betulaceae. Filbert. 



" This nut comes from Sikkim and is like a hazelnut. Dr. Cave thinks 

 it will take about 10 years to bear. The natives of Sikkim praise it 

 very highly." 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 41812. 



45977. Decaisnea insignis (Griffith) Hook. f. and Thorns. Lardiza- 



balacese. 



"A bush from northern Sikkim that bears wonderful fruit about as 

 big as one's thumb and about 4 inches long. Dr. Cave sent a man to Sik- 

 kim specially to procure the seed of this fruit." 



This is one of the most remarkable of Indian botanical discoveries, 

 both in structure and appearance, and is further notable as yielding an 

 edible sweet-fleshed fruit. It is a native of the humid forests of Sikkim 

 and Bhutan at altitudes of 7,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea. The trunk 

 or trunks, for sometimes several spring from the ground from a common 

 root, are 6 to 10 feet high, as thick as one's arm, and very brittle ; the 

 pale bark is covered with lenticels ; the pith is very large ; the branches 

 are few, subterminal, and erect ; the compound leaves are terminal and 

 axillary ; the many-flowered horizontal racemes are a foot long, and the 

 drooping, green flowers are 1 inch long, on slender pedicels as long as 

 themselves. (Adapted from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, pi. 6731.) 



45978. Holboellia latifolia Wall. Lardizabalaceae. 



" Grows in Darjiling, and is a vine bearing a nice fruit, purple in color, 

 the size of a man's thumb, with subacid pulp. The flower is also very 

 showy. The native name of this fruit is gophila." 



45979. Magnolia campbellii Hook. f. and Thorns. Magnoliacere. 



Magnolia. 



" Indigenous to the eastern Himalayas, but grows at 8,000 feet altitude. 

 Requires a moist, cool climate." 



A deciduous tree, occasionally 150 feet in height, found in the Him- 

 alayas in India at altitudes of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. The oval leaves, 

 6 to 10 inches long, are smooth above and covered beneath with 

 appressed hairs. The fragrant cup-shaped flowers, 6 to 10 inches 

 across and varying in color from rose to deep crimson, are produced 

 in the spring before the leaves. (Adapted from Bean, Trees and, 

 Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 67.) 



