﻿12 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



year, are a glorious s'ght. Tactic is mad.- beautiful by this common plan! 

 it would seem well worth while to test it for hedges in California, where the 

 pink form has already been introduced and is offered in the trade 'l he ariety 

 sent in under this number is the dovtile white, winch seems to be one of the most 

 beautiful of all. The flowers of tins form are extensively used by the Indians 

 of Tactic for decorating the images of saints which they have in their h 

 and in the churches." < Popenoe.) 



This is possibly a cultivated form of Dahlia maxoni Safford. 



43982. Gossypii u sp. Malvaceae. Cotton. 



From Asuncion, Paraguay. Presented by Mr. C. F. Mead. Received Janu- 

 ary 10, 1917. 



" Seeds of the native red cotton of Paraguay. This is said to be indigenous." 

 < Mead.) 



43983 and 43984. Chayota edut,is Jacq. Cucurbitaceae. 



(Sechium eduh Swartz.) Chayote. 



From Rio de Janeiro. Brazil. Presented by Dr. Alberto Lofgren, Botanic 

 Garden. Received January 2. 1917. 



43983. "Fruit very small and quite corrugated." < B. T. Galloway.) 



43984. "Fruit medium sized, considerably corrugated, and spineless; 

 skin thick." (B. T. Galloway.) 



43985. Castilleja indivisa Engelm. Scrophulariaceae. 



Painted cup. 



Grown at the Plant Introduction Field Station. Chico, Calif., from seed col- 

 lected at Lyford, Tex., by Dr. David Griffiths, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, May 2, 1915. Plants numbered for convenience in distribution 

 on January 17, 1917. 

 " One of the most showy of the winter annuals of southern Texas. The seed- 

 lings come up very abundantly upon the sandy coastal plain in autumn, develop- 

 ing slowly during the winter but rapidly in early spring, and dominating the 

 color of acres of the landscape in late March and early April. Here its seeds 

 are matured in late April and early May. There are few native plants more 

 showy than this one. This whole group of painted cups, however, is considered 

 somewhat difficult to grow and is consequently little handled in the trade in this 

 country, although commonly grown in England. Our efforts have met with 

 both success and failure in their handling. Recent trials indicate that the habits 

 of the plant fit it to stand winter handling and that it can be grown successfully 

 as a winter annual in regions having mild winters with sufficient moisture for 

 seed germination in autumn. It requires a comparatively low temperature for 

 its development. Experience at Chico, Calif., shows that the sudden transition 

 from winter to summer, such as we have, dwarfs the plants before maturity, so 

 that they produce but few of the colored bracts which are so attractive in all 

 of the painted c-ups or Indian paintbrushes/' {Griffiths.) 



43986. Carica papaya L. Papayacese. Papaya. 



From St. Leo, Fla. Presented by Father Jerome, St. Leo College. Received 

 January 2, 1917. 

 " Seed saved from a tree that has endured a temperature of 27° F. and has 

 borne 100 fruits in 12 months from seed. Father Jerome received from Hawaii 

 the seed from which this tree was grown." (Peter Bisset.) 



