﻿82 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



42355 to 42376. 



From Madagascar. Presented by Mr. Eugene Jaegle, director, Agricultural 

 Station of Ivoloina, near Tamatave, through Mr. James G. Carter, 

 American consul. Received March 31, 1916. 



42355. Adenanthera pavonina L. Mimosacese. Coral-bean tree. 

 " A handsome deciduous tree with spreading branches and bipinnate 



leaves, bearing pods of glossy, scarlet, biconvex seed. Flowers in 

 racemes, numerous, small, white and yellow mixed, fragrant. 



" The tree is a native of the East Indies, where the jewelers use the 

 seeds for weights, each weighing almost exactly 4 grains. The heart- 

 wood of the larger tree is of a deep red color. It is hard and durable 

 and in India is sometimes used as a substitute for red sandalwood. It 

 yields a dye which the Brahmins of India use for marking their fore- 

 heads. It has long been growing in Guam and is pretty well distributed 

 over the island. Its vernacular name [kolales] is an imitation of the 

 ' corales ' (coral beans) and is likewise applied to the smaller seeded 

 Abnus abrus." (W. E. Safford, Useful Plants of Guam, p. 174.) 



See S. P. I. Nos. 38650 and 39542 for previous introductions. 



42356. Albizzia ciiinensis (Osbeck) Merr. Miinosacea?. 

 (Albizzia stipulafa Boiv.) 



A large, deciduous, fast-growing tree of tropical Asia, whose wood is 

 used for cart wheels, wooden bells, cabinet work, and furniture, as well 

 as for fuel ; the branches are used for fodder, and the trunk yields a 

 gum which is suitable for sizing paper. 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 39104. 



42357. Cajuptjti leucadexdra (Stickm.) Pushy. Myrtacse. Cajuput. 



(Melaleuca leucadendron L.) 

 The cajuput tree of India and Australia. Reaches a height of 80 feet. 

 Can be grown on the edges of salt-water swamps, where no Eucalyptus 

 will survive. Like the Eucalyptus the tree is believed to be valuable for 

 subduing malarial vapors. The lamellar bark is valuable for preserving 

 fruit wrapped in it. The wood is hard, close grained, and almost im- 

 perishable underground. The leaves yield as much as 2 per cent of the 

 well-known cajuput oil, closely allied to that of Eucalyptus. (Adapted 

 from Mueller, Select Extra-Tropical Plants, p. SOS.) 



42358. Bichea acuminata (Beauv.) W. F. Wight. Sterculiacese. • 

 {Cola acuminata Schott and Endl.) Kola nut. 



This is one of the largest and most beautiful trees of the river regions 

 of Senegambia. It grows to a height of 10 to 20 meters, having a 

 large trunk and strong branches, the wood being good ^or naval con- 

 struction, carpentry, etc. The leaves are oval-acuminate and alternate, 

 the flowers very numerous, apetalous and polygamous, in paniculate 

 cymes. At 10 years of age the tree comes into full bearing and may 

 yield 45 kilograms of seed twice annually, in November and June. The 

 seeds, often reduced to a large, more or less fleshy embryo, are a clear 

 yellow or rosy red in color. Deprived of their covering, they vary in 

 weight from 5 to 25 grams. Kola is highly prized by all the African 

 tribes, who use it in the fresh state for chewing and in the dry state 

 as a food. Its taste, at first sweetish, is astringent, then bitter. It 

 has the property of making brackish and hot water agreeable and 

 fresh. Like mate and coca, it contains caff em and quiets hunger and 

 allows one to endure the most prolonged labor without fatigue. In 



