﻿8 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



Mr. Frank N. Meyer, Agricultural Explorer of the Department 

 of Agriculture, has discovered in the Shansi Province of China a 

 true wild apricot, the kernels of which are pickled in brine and. 

 eaten as appetizers by the natives (S. P. I. No. 39439), and in the 

 mountains south of Sianfu, Shensi Province (S. P. I. No. 39428), 

 and again in Chaoyu, Shansi Province (S. P. I. No. 39544), a small, 

 sour, but freestone wild peach, which may be of decided importance 

 to peach breeders. Prinsepia uniflora, which he found near Fucheng, 

 a spiny shrub, very decorative in May, and bearing fruits which 

 resemble cherries, being dark red in color, quite juicy, and sour, may 

 add a useful hardy fruiting shrub to the gardens of this country 

 (S. P. I. No. 39432). A Prinsepia introduced by Wilson has proved 

 hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. 



Chinese place and plant names in this inventory have been 

 brought, as far as possible,, into accord with the best authorities, the 

 geographic names (except when fixed by decisions of the United 

 States Geographic Board) being given in the form accepted by the 

 Chinese Ministry of Communications Postal Guide. Many of the 

 smaller village names, however, are not listed therein, and in all 

 such cases the location of the village is given with reference to the 

 nearest town mentioned in that work. 



The. manuscript of this inventory has been prepared by Miss May 

 Riley, the botanical determinations of seeds introduced have been 

 made and the notes on geographic distribution compiled by Mr. 

 H. C. Skeels, and the descriptive notes arranged by Mr. S. C. Stuntz, 

 who has also had general supervision of this inventory. 



David Fairchild, 

 Agricultural Explorer in Charge. 



Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, 



Washington, D. C, November 25, 1916. 



