﻿Inventory 50, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate I 



Bargaining for Kau ba in Shanghai (Zizania latifolia, S. P. I. No. 440691. 



Scene in the Hongkew market. A Japanese girl is bargaining for "water-bamboo" shoots, 

 "kau ba," as they are called locally. These shoots supply a tasteful vegetable when properly 

 prepared. The young shoots of this relative of our own American wild rice are eaten in the 

 late spring when they are swollen by the action of a fungus similar in its effect to corn smut. 

 It is in no way related to the true bamboo. The usual name for this wild rice is ku, and the 

 South China name for the shoots is chiao sun. (Photographed by Frank N. Meyer, June 11, 

 1915, at Shanghai, China; P12301FS.) 



