﻿18 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



43113. Mangifera indica L. Anacardiacese. Mango. 

 From Pasumalai, Madura District, southern India. Presented by Rev. J. X. 



Miller, American Mission High School and Training Institution. Received 

 August 7, 1916. 

 Seeds of a large mango. 



43114. Bertholletia nobilis Miers. Lecythidacese. Brazil nut. 

 (B. excelsa Berg, not Humb. and Kunth.) 



From Para, Brazil. Secured through Mr. George H. Pickerell, American 

 consul. Received August 8, 1916. 



"Brazil nut or Para nut. A tall handsome tree, with oblong wavy leaves 

 which are 14 to 16 inches long and about 3 inches broad, native of Guiana, 

 Venezuela, and Brazil. In its native home, especially on the banks of the 

 Amazon and Orinoco, the tree attains a height of over 100 feet. The tree 

 was introduced at Peradeniya in 1880, and notwithstanding the indifferent 

 ground chosen for it when first planted out, appears to find here a congenial 

 home. It is now [1914] about 60 feet high and produces at the top each year, 

 in the dry season, large erect racemes of white flowers, followed a few months 

 later by a number of large brown fruits which hang on the trees for some 

 months after ripening. Ridley records similar success with the tree at Singa- 

 pore, where it was introduced in 1881. Each fruit is from 4 to 6 inches in 

 diameter, with a hard brown woody shell which has to be sawed or broken open 

 with an axe in order to obtain the nuts (seeds). In the interior, closely packed, 

 are from 10 to 12 large angular seeds, with a brown horny testa ; these are the 

 Brazil nuts of commerce, which form an important article of export from their 

 native country, being largely used for dessert in Europe, America, etc. The 

 tree may be propagated by seed or gootee (layering) and thrives best on a rich 

 alluvial soil in a hot and moist climate." (Macmillan, Handbook of Tropical 

 Gardening and Planting, 2d ed., p. 144.) 



For an illustration of a Brazil nut tree growing on the island of Trinidad, 

 see Plate II. 



43115. Passiflora lutea L. Passifloracese. Granadilla. 



From Augusta, Ga. Presented by the P. J. Berckmans Co. Received 

 August 8, 1916. 

 " The ordinary ' passion flower ' of the South, climbing or trailing to a height 

 of 10 feet. Flowers. greenish yellow, nearly an inch across ; berries half an inch 

 in diameter, smooth, deep purple, not edible. This vine occurs native as far 

 north as Pennsylvania and Illinois, and it is quite probable that resistant 

 hybrids with edible passifloras may be secured." (Fair-child.) 



43116. Butia bonneti (Linden) Becc. Phoenicacese. Palm. 



From Fruitland Park, Fla. Presented by Mr. Louis Bosanquet. Received 

 July 24, 1916. 

 H. Nehrling describes this palm as follows : " Cocos gaertneH Hort. This is 

 one of the very best of our garden palms, a fast grower, very elegant, and with a 

 dense leaf crown of rather erect fronds. My specimen is about 15 years old. I 

 raised it from seed, which was sent to me by the late Mr. Gaertner from 

 southern Brazil. . . . The trunk is at present 6 feet high and is covered all 

 over with several species of orchids, bromeliads, cacti, etc. ... It bears 

 heavily, and I have counted as many as 980 fruits in one bunch. They are 

 closely packed, of the size of a small plum, orange-yellow with a red cheek, 



