UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE 



Uk? INVENTORY No. 78 



Washington, D. C. ▼ 



Issued November, 1926 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN PLANT 

 INTRODUCTION, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, DURING THE PERIOD 

 FROM JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31, 1924 (S. P. I. NOS. 58455 TO 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introductory statement 1 



Inventory : 5 



Index of common and scientific names 32 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 



TT IS ALWAYS a difficult matter to select from the large quantity of plant 

 A material listed in one of these inventories the introductions which claim 

 special attention. A glance at the general character of the material introduced 

 and the sources from which it has been obtained, however, may assist experi- 

 menters to form a clearer idea of the department's plant-introduction activities 

 than will be obtained from a perusal of the vast amount of detailed information 

 which must necessarily accompany a record of this sort. 



The plants listed in this, the seventy-eighth Inventory of Seeds and Plants 

 Imported, have been obtained through the two usual channels of plant intro- 

 duction — the agricultural explorers of the bureau and correspondents abroad. 



Few agricultural explorations of recent years have penetrated into such remote 

 regions and have brought to light more promising material than that headed by 

 H. V. Harlan, of the Office of Cereal Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 

 In the present inventory are listed a number of his Abyssinian introductions, 

 obtained at the commencement of his stay in that country. Though Doctor 

 Harlan's principal object was to collect rare types of barley for use in breeding 

 work, his shipments include many other crop plants, such as teff (Eragrostis 

 nnica, No. 58736), sorghum, wheat, cotton, beans, peas, and flax. 



Joseph F. Rock, whose explorations in Yunnan, China, were commenced 

 under the auspices of this office, but later transferred to the National Geographic 

 Society, has continued to send in promising ornamental trees, shrubs, and her- 

 baceous perennials from a region where climatic conditions much resemble those 

 of the northern Pacific coast region of the United States. Among Mr. Rock's 

 introductions which are listed in the present inventory are species of Abies, Picea, 

 Tsuga, and other coniferous trees; rhododendrons, cotoneasters, and other 

 ornamental shrubs; and such herbaceous plants as Primula and Lilium. Con- 

 cerning one of the hemlocks (Tsuga sp., No. 58510) which he found on the Likiang 

 Snow Range, northern Yunnan, at 10,000 feet altitude, he writes that the tree 

 becomes 80 feet or more high, with a trunk 5 feet in diameter, and he considers 

 it to be the finest of all the species of Tsuga. 



The department's correspondents abroad, with their customary generosity, 

 have contributed many promising lots of material. R. C. Ching, a young 

 Chinese botanist, who accompanied a recent scientific expedition into Kansu 

 Province, northwestern China, has sent a large collection of rare plants from that 



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