26 BULLETIN 445, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
peculiar habit of producing its delicious fruit directly upon the 
bark of the tree, not only upon the small limbs but upon the trunk 
and it is said even upon exposed roots, together with the unusual 
beauty of its symmetrical, dense, umbrageous head of light-green 
foliage, places it far above the average indigenous fruit tree of 
tropical and subtropical South America. 
The jaboticaba is extremely popular and highly esteemed by all 
classes of Brazilians. It has been cultivated for generations, yet in 
spite of this fact, it is, botanically speaking, but imperfectly known. 
Horticulturists generally list it as Myrciaria jaboticaba Berg, but 
Berg himself distinguished and defined three distinct species, J/. 
caulifiora, M. trunciflora, and M. jaboticaba, whose fruits are all 
known under the name of jaboticaba. Tavares,’ in describing these 
three species, states that they can only be distinguished when grow- 
ing wild in the forests, since culture produces marked variation from 
the typical characters and in addition some of the cultivated forms 
are the results of crosses between the different species. _ It can easily 
be seen, therefore, that in studying the trees found in cultivation 
and attempting to name them accurately, many obstacles are en- 
countered. 
The geographic distribution of the jaboticaba is stated by the best 
authorities to be from Rio Grande do Sul on the south to Minas 
Geraes on the north and from the coast to Goyaz and Matto Grosso on 
the west. Outside of this region the tree is occasionally seen in culti- 
vation, as at Bahia, where it does not appear to thrive and is rarely 
grown. Around Rio de Janeiro it is one of the features of gardens 
and orchards. Not only are there single trees in many gardens, but 
occasional small plantations an acre or two in extent. 
The zone of the jaboticaba extends from sea level to altitudes of 
3,000 feet, or even more. At Petropolis it grows and fruits well, 
according to Tavares,? and at Barbacena, in Minas Geraes, where the 
altitude is 1,168 meters, it seems to thrive, although the winters are 
sometimes very cool. In this section of Brazil, however, ice rarely 
forms, even at such altitudes. 
At Lavras, Minas Geraes, nearly every garden contains one or more 
trees, making the jaboticaba easily the most important fruit of the 
region. At Pirapora, head of navigation on the Rio Sao Francisco, 
there are a few gnarled and stunted trees whose abnormal condition 
apparently indicates that they are near the edge of the zone in which 
the tree can be grown. 
One of the greatest Brazilian botanists, Barbosa Rodrigues, con- 
sidered the jaboticaba (Pl. XII) the handsomest of all the Myr- 
tacee. Under favorable conditions it reaches a height of 35 or 40 
1 Op. cit., v. 10, p. 422, 2 Op. cit., v. 10, p. 429, 
