220 



Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



These plants introduced by Dr. Krancesohi, whicli it is seen were all seed- 

 lings or layers from Andre's original plant, are the parents of nearly all the 

 Feijoas which have been propagated in C alifornia uj) to the present time. An 

 importation of seeds from Argentina was made by H. Hehre of Los Angeles, at 

 an uncertain date, and wliile the jjlants whicli were the result of this importation 

 have not been widely disseminated, one of them has proved to be of an entirely 

 distinct form from any of the Andre seedlings, and has resulted in the Hehre 

 variety. 



Botanical Description and Affinities 

 Feijoa Sellowiana was named by Berg after material collected by Friedrich 

 Sellow in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, not far from the frontier of 

 Uruguay. Berg's description was published (in Martins, Flora Brasiliensis, 

 XIV, 1, p. 616) in the year 18;;8, under the name of Orihostemon Sellowianun. 

 The generic name Orthosfemon had already been ))reempted by Robert Brown 

 for a genus of Gentianas founded by him, and it is evident Berg soon discovered 

 his mistake, for in the same volume of the Flora Brasiliensis (the work was orig- 

 inally issued in small parts) lie records the change and dedicates tlic genus to 

 Joani de Silva Feijo, Director of tlie Museum of Natural History at San Sebas- 

 tian, Brazil. 



Wliile Berg's description was the first one published, it is somewhat inade- 

 quate for the reason tliat it liad to be made from tlie meagre herbarium material 

 collected by Sellow, in possession of the herbarium of Berlin; and particularly, 

 as pointed out by Andre, tliat no mention was made of the form of the petals, 

 nor of the color of the corolla. Dr. Andre, having the living material at hand in 

 the form of the adult plant growing in his garden, undertook to draw up a com- 

 plete and accurate description of the sjiecies. This was published in the Revue 

 Horticole (Vol. 70, p. 26;")) and a translation of it is as follows: 



A bushy shrub, 3 to 4 metres in height, with rounded branches swollen at the nodes, 

 covered with light gray bark, the young branches tomentose, as is the whole plant except 

 the upper surface of the leaves, and the corollas. 



Leaves opposite, obtusely elliptical, shortly petiolated, thick and coriaceous, the 

 upper surface glossy and of a fine green lustre, the margins slightly recurved, veins 

 scarcely noticeable above, but fine, prominent, and in arcuate reticulations below, re-uniting 

 before reaching the margin of the leaf; tlie lower surface canescent and finely puberulent. 

 Buds globular, puberulent, constricted above the ovary. Flowers solitary or in clusters, 

 in the axils of the leaves; peduncle straight, then recurved, 20 to 25 millimetres long, 

 whitish and velvety. Calyx tulie turbinate, sepals four, unequal, obtusely elliptical, re- 

 curved, pubescent, ciliated. Corolla outspread, petals four, cupped, oval or obovate, en- 

 tire or marginate, obtuse, fleshy, glabrous, ciliated, white outside, violet red inside, 15 to 18 

 millimetres long and 8 millimetres wide, recurved after anthesis. Stamens numerous, 

 perigynous, erect in a large cluster, -20 millimetres long, filaments filiform, deep purple, 

 anthers globular, yellow. Style longer than the stamens, filiform, slender, stigma capitate; 

 ovary quadri-locular, oblong, turbinated. Fruit a berry, oblong or ovoid, with 4 polys- 

 jiermous loculaments, 4 to 6 centimetres long and 3 to 5 centimetres wide, green even 

 when ripe, surface first tomentose, later smooth, slightly furrowed, rough, crowned by the 

 thick disk and cupped sepals of the persistent calyx. Seeds small, oblong. 



Flesh thick, white, J^ulpy and watery, of a sweet and highly perfumed taste, sug- 

 gesting pineapples and guavas and exhaling an extremely bland and penetrating odor, 

 even before tlie maturitj' of the fruits. 



The genus Feijoa is a member of the Natural Order Myrtaceae. Among the 

 well known economic members of the order are the Guavas (Psidium) , numerous 



