UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF A 



GRICULTURE 



MgP INVENTORY No. 82 



Washington, D. C. T 



Issued June, 1927 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN PLANT 

 INTRODUCTION, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, DURING THE PERIOD 

 FROM JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31,1925 (S. P. I. NOS. 62231 TO 63489) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introductory statement 1 



Inventory 3 



Index of common and scientific names 55 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 



MORE THAN 1,200 lots of plant material were received during the three 

 months represented by this inventory, a total well above the average 

 maintained for the last few years. Much of this material was sent in by the 

 four agricultural explorers who were pursuing their activities in eastern Asia, 

 northern Africa, and western South America. 



The Province of Chihli, China, and especially the vicinity of Peking, has con- 

 tinued to be a very fertile field for agricultural explorations, and from this 

 region P. H. Dorsett has sent in a steady stream of promising plant immigrants. 

 Of special interest are scions of a number of large-fruited varieties of the 

 Chinese jujube {Ziziphus jujuba, Nos. 62352-62354, 62562, 63322, 63323, 63476), 

 because of the increasing demand for this fruit among the growers in the South- 

 western States and California. The jujube has shown itself to be adapted for 

 growing in semiarid regions having long, hot summers and mild winters. As a 

 candied fruit, processed in sugar sirup and dried, its popularity is steadily 

 increasing. 



Other fruits represented in Mr. Dorsett's collections are peaches, apricots, 

 plums, cherries, pears, and persimmons. There are also included many locally 

 developed strains of cereals and vegetables and a number of herbaceous and 

 woody ornamentals. 



From Ecuador a number of interesting lots of plant material were sent in 

 by Wilson Popenoe. These include scions of a peach (Amygdalus persica, No. 

 62551), a medium-sized freestone which may prove adapted to subtropical 

 climates, and scions of the capulin cherry (Prunus serotina, No. 62553) from the 

 old Gonzales tree at Catiglata. This tree, famous throughout the Ecuadorian 

 highlands, bears cherries of unusually large size. The capulin cherry is very 

 closely related to the wild black cherry of the eastern United States and 

 may prove suitable for growing in the Southeastern States, where other 

 cherries do not thrive. 



In southeastern China F. A. McClure continued his investigations of the 

 economic flora of that region and sent in an interesting collection of scions 

 of the Japanese apricot (Prunus mume, Nos. 62311-62318). Our previous 

 experience with the ornamental forms of Prunus mume has been that a few 

 of the double-flowering and large-flowered sorts may be of special value 

 because of their habit of blooming in the spring even before the forsythias, 

 but as they are doubtfully hardy as far north as Washington. D. C, it may be 

 necessary to confine their cultivation to the southern United States. Mr. 

 McClure's collection includes some very promising large-flowered forms. 

 22529—27 1 1 



