UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



INVENTORY No. 87 



Washington, D. C. T Issued February, 1929 



PLANT MATERIAL INTRODUCED BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN PLANT 

 INTRODUCTION, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 

 1926 (NOS. 66699 TO 67836) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introductory statement 1 



Inventory 3 



Index of common and scientific names... _ ___ 49 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 



fPHREE agricultural explorers were carrying on their investigations 

 -*■ in foreign lands during the three-month period represented by 

 this eighty-seventh inventory. 



David Fairchild, in company with P. H. Dorsett, made an extended 

 tour along the northern coast of Sumatra and also spent some time 

 in Java and Ceylon. Their itinerary included the Sibolangit Botanic 

 Garden, near Medan, Sumatra, and the Hakgala Botanic Garden, 

 Newara Eliya, Ceylon. The material collected came from these 

 botanic gardens, from the markets of the native villages visited, 

 and from the wild. It consisted for the most part of fruit-bearing 

 plants, ornamentals, and leguminous plants of possible value as cover 

 crops for the warmer parts of the United States. Breeders of small 

 fruits will be interested in the numerous species of Rubus (Nos. 

 67592 to 67604; 67728 to 67740) obtained mostly in Sumatra. Sev- 

 eral species of Ficus (Nos. 67557 to 67570; 67696 to 67705) from 

 Sumatra will be tested in southern Florida, where already a number 

 of these wild figs have proved popular as shade trees. 



F. A. McClure continued to work in the general vicinity of Can- 

 ton, China, collecting plant material largely from the native markets 

 of the neighboring villages. At one small place in the Lungtau 

 Mountains he obtained seeds of the Faan kwa cushaw (Cucurbita 

 moscliata, No. 66735). A previous introduction (No. 54427), also 

 from the vicinity of Canton, showed this to be an excellent variety 

 of cushaw, producing large fruits of good quality and flavor. Mr. 

 McClure also collected rhizomes of several bamboos, mostly belong- 

 ing to the genus Phyllostachys (Nos. 66781 to 66789; 66900 to 66902; 

 67398, 67399), a number of which furnish edible young shoots. 



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