6 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOETED. 



During the period covered by this myentory Messrs. Paul and 

 Wilson Popenoe, two yoirng Cahfornia plant collectors who have 

 ^'isited India in the interest of commercial firms, have sent in some 

 unusually interesting material, including the bangilan. No. 34366, 

 Sterculia macroplmlla, a striking ornamental ^vith brilliant orange- 

 scarlet fruits .which produce a blaze of color and can be seen for a great 

 distance; No. 34494, the rambutan from Singapore, Neplielium lap- 

 paceum, one of the commonest and most palatable fruits of the 

 Malay peninsula, which has not yet been acclimated in the Western 

 Hemisphere; No. 34495, the rambe, Baccaurea motleyana, a straw- 

 colored fruit vdih a gooseberry flavor, from the same region; No. 

 34496, the remarkable duku, or doekoe, of Java, Lansium domesticum, 

 a fruit which, notwithstanding its delicious and refreshing character, 

 has been entirely neglected in the West Indies. Mr. Wilson Popenoe 

 has distinguished for the first time this duku from the langsat of the 

 Phihppines. From Seharunpur Mr. Popenoe sent a native amaranth, 

 Amaranthus gangeticus, No. 34497, which is used in India in place of 

 spinach. 



From correspondents and our consuls abroad the following have 

 been received: No. 34351, the African oil-bean tree, Pentaclethra 

 macropTiyUa, from southern Nigeria, which yields seeds producing an 

 oil only 10 per cent less valuable than cottonseed oil, probably 

 adapted to conditions in southern Florida; Nos. 34353 and 34431, the 

 batino, Mangifera verticiUata, a remarkable new species closely 

 related to the mango and adapted to the inundated regions of Min- 

 danao, but with white-fleshed fruit, the quaUty of which would put 

 it on a par with the mango, while for stock purposes it may prove 

 of value; Nos. 34356 to 34359, seeds of valuable timber-producing 

 trees from Piracicaba, Brazil, for forestry experiments in Florida; 

 No. 34361, a new strain of hairy vetch developed at Guelph, Canada, 

 adapted to the humid conditions of the Eastern States; No. 34364, 

 Carissa carandas, a black-fruited species of this interesting fruiting 

 hedge plant from India, via Saff, Egypt; No. 34368, the pili nut of 

 the Philippines, Canarium ovatum, a new table nut to be served just 

 as salted almonds are now; Nos. 34381 and 34384 to 34386, four 

 species of the genus Nothofagus, beeches of Chile, some of which, 

 because of their valuable timber and evergreen character, deserve to 

 be tested extensively in the moist coastal region about San Francisco; 

 No. 34387, the Persea lingue of Chile, which, although reported to 

 have leaves that are poisonous to stock, because of its ability to Uve 

 on all kinds of soil should be tested as a stock for the avocado, and 

 hybrids with it ought to be made; N*o. 34415, a seedless-fruited form 

 of Berheris vulgaris, found at Sherborn, Mass., by Miss Martha L. 

 Loomis and which, in view of the unusual fruitfulness of the bar- 



