﻿INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED 

 BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT 

 INTRODUCTION DURING THE PERI D FROM OC- 

 TOBER 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1915 (NO. 45; NOS. 

 41315 TO 41684). 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



Although this inventory chronicles the arrival of only 370 new 

 I plant immigrants, it describes some that are of unusual interest and 

 deserving of special mention. It covers certain plants of the high 

 Peruvian Andes collected by Mr. O. F. Cook while attached to the 

 j Yale University-National Geographic Society Expedition. These 

 include a remarkable wild relative of the tomato (No. 41318), which 

 has a pleasant, slightly acid flavor, resembling that of an apple, and 

 remarkable keeping qualities which may make it of particular inter- 

 est to tomato breeders; one of the Mutisias (No. 41317), a large 

 trailing composite vine worthy of trial in our greenhouses for its 

 beautiful orange to scarlet pendent flowers, which suggest thistles; a 

 passion fruit (No. 41316), the pulp of which separates from the 

 hard shell, making it possible to peel the shell away; the tara 

 (Gaesalpina pectinata, No. 41323), a spiny leguminous tree or shrub 

 which may make a striking hedge plant in our Southwestern States, 

 its bright scarlet pods contrasting with its deep polished-green leaves 

 as holly berries do; the tasta (No. 41324), a fine-leaved shrubby 

 Escallonia, which may make a desirable hedge plant as far north as 

 San Francisco; the lengli (Hesperomeles oblong a, No. 41325), an 

 attractive tree with evergreen leaves and brilliant red fruits, hanging 

 on all winter like holly berries; the capuli cherry of Peru (Prunus 

 salicifolia, No. 41328), from an altitude of 12,000 feet, which 

 resembles a chokeberry but has a firm flesh of good texture and agree- 

 able taste; a variety of the sweet cassava (Manihot dulcis, No. 

 41320), which species, according to Cook, is represented by varieties 

 maturing at 6,000 feet on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in the 

 cold cloudy coastal climate of the Pacific coast; a species of tree 

 (Datura sanguinea, No. 41329), with green, orange, and scarlet 

 flowers, which occurs where heavy frosts are encountered every night l , 

 the lucuma of Peru (No. 41332), a popular fruit with rich mealy 



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