26 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED 



\<>. 1L'2. Hong Kong Botanic Gardens. 

 April 4. 1925. Tea king, Hung fa t»z king. 

 A beautiful tree 10 meters high, with gray 

 to lmtf-colored bark and large deep-green 

 2-lobed leaves whose shape suggests the 

 common English name. " camefs foot." 

 The deep-red flowers of this species are 

 enormous compared with those of the other 

 species known here (being as much as 7 

 centimeters in diameter), and are borne 

 abundantly. They occur in long spikes, 

 opening one floret at a time progressively 

 from the bottom. The species is not known 

 to have produced fruits here, the pistil 

 dropping from the receptacle with the rest 

 of the flower. Mr. Green, the superintend- 

 ent of the gardens, says he has tried hand 

 pollinating without success. The advan- 

 tage of this species as far as the conditions 

 here are concerned is that it is evergreen, 

 its foliage being very healthy and verdant 

 throughout the year, and that its flowers 

 open during the winter months before the 

 advent of the June bugs (usually in March 

 or April), from whose voracious appetites 

 no ornamental is immune. (McClure.) 



63969. Oetza sativa L. Poaceae. 



Rice. 



From Bangkok. Siam. Seeds presented by 

 Phya Sihasakti Snidvongs. Director of 

 Agriculture, through Dr. H. M. Smith, 

 director Siamese Bureau of Fisheries. 

 Received June 15, 1925. 



A locally grown strain. 



63970 and 63971. Sesban spp. Faba- 

 ceae. 



From Pretoria, Union of South Africa. 

 Seeds presented by I. B. Pole Evans, 

 chief, division of botany. Received June 

 18, 1925. 



63970. Sesban aegyptiacum Poir. 



A stout shrubby plant, 6 to 10 feet in 

 height, which, according to J. F. Rock 

 (The Leguminous Plants of Hawaii, p. 

 154), is native in tropical Asia and 

 northern Australia. The yellow flowers, 

 spotted witb purple, are borne in axil- 

 lary clusters about 4 inches long. In 

 Australia the leaves are much relished 

 by livestock, and the wood is used in 

 making charcoal for gunpowder. 



63971. Sesban cinerascens Welw. 



Like the preceding, this tropical Afri- 

 can shrub, according to Oliver (Flora of 

 Tropical Africa, vol. 2), has yellow 

 flowers spotted with purple. It has a 

 graceful habit, with slender branches and 

 compound leaves composed of 15 to 20 

 pairs of leaflets. The flowers are in lax 

 clusters, and the pods are up to a foot 

 in length. 



63972. Poa flabellata (Lam.) Hook, 

 f. Poaceae. Tussock grass. 



From Kew, Surrey, England. Seeds pre- 

 sented by Dr. Thomas V. Chipp, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens. Received June 18, 

 1925. 



These seeds originally came from the 

 Falkland Islands. (Chipp.) 



According to Hogg (Vegetable Kingdom, 

 p. 823), this is a coarse grass which grows 

 on peaty soil near the sea in the Falkland 



Islands. It forms dense masses of stems 

 which frequently rise to the height of from 

 4 to 6 feet, and the long tapering leaves 

 hang over gracefully in curves, from 5 to 8 

 teet long and an inch wide at the base. 

 The plant is much relished by cattle, being 

 very nutritious and containing saccharin. 

 The inner portion of the stem a little wav 

 above the root is soft and crisp and fla- 

 vored like a hazelnut; the inhabitants of 

 the Falkland Islands are very fond of it. 

 They also boil the young shoots and eat 

 them like asparagus. 



63973 and 63974. Phalaris bulbosa 

 Jusl. Poaceae. 



From Paris, France. Seeds purchased from 

 Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co. Received June 

 22, 1925. 



A perennial, tufted grass, 2 to 3 feet 

 high, with shiny leaves about two-fifths of 

 an inch wide, native to the Mediterranean 

 countries. It is now cultivated in New 

 South Wales, where it appears to be an 

 excellent permanent winter grass for 

 coastal and table-land districts. It is 

 drought resistant. Seed is difficult to save 

 on account of shattering. 



63973. No. 1. Received as Phalaris coer- 

 ulescens, but sample has been identified 

 as P. bulbosa. 



63974. No. 2. 



63975. Phoenix dactyeifeea L. Plioe- 

 uicaceae. Date palm. 



From Cairo, Egypt. Offshoots purchased 

 through Ernest Wright and Mahmoud 

 Bey Abaza, director of the horticultural 

 section of the Egyptian Ministry of Ag- 

 riculture, at the request of S. C. Mason, 

 Bureau of Plant Industrv. Received 

 June 27, 1925. 



The Samany date is one of the most 

 striking and characteristic varieties of 

 Lower Egypt, and by the natives it is 

 counted one of the best. The trees are 

 very heavy bodied and have longer leaves 

 than any other variety I have measured. 

 In fruit the Samany is easily the most 

 striking and peculiar of all the delta 

 varieties. The heavy, compact bunches 

 are borne unevenly on coarse, strong 

 strands, the fruits being about 2% inches 

 long and 1% inches broad and rather 

 oblique. The Samany never becomes a 

 packing date, but is gathered hard ripe 

 and used in confections or is eaten in the 

 rutab stage. The offshoots command the 

 highest prices of any variety in Egypt, for 

 the reason that they are in great demand 

 for planting in the gardens of the new 

 country and suburban places around Alex- 

 andria. The feature that makes the 

 Samany of especial promise is its ability 

 to succeed in the cool, humid climate of 

 the coastal region. (Mason.) 



63976. Bambos sp. Poaceae. Bamboo. 



From Algiers, Algeria. Plant collected by 

 David Fairchild, agricultural explorer, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. Received 

 April 6, 1925. 



Jardin d'Essais. A beautiful blue- 

 stem'med species which is distinguished by 

 the culm sheaths either being entirely 

 devoid of ligules or else the ligules are 

 very evanescent. (Fairchild.) 



