16 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



34817 and 34818. 



From South Africa. Presented by Prof. J. Burtt Davy, government agrostolo- 

 gist and botanist, Union of South Afiica, Department of Agriculture, Pretoria. 

 Received January 15, 1913. 



34817. Chaetochloa lindenbergiana (Nees) Hitchc. 



(Panicum lindenhergianum Nees, Flor. Afr. Austral., p. 47, 1841.) 

 (Setaria lindenbergiana (Nees) Stapf, Flora Capensis, vol. 7, p. 422, 

 1899.) 



Seeds of this South African gi-ass were received under the name Setaria lin- 

 denbergiana Stapf. The generic name Chaetochloa is now used for this genus. 

 Chaetochloa lindenbergiana seems never to have been published, and it is neces- 

 sary to adopt it here. {A. S. Hitchcock.) 



Distribution. — A perennial grass found in tropical East Africa and south- 

 ward to the Cape. 



34818. Eragrostis superba Peyritsch. 



"This is one of our best native pasture grasses on the high veld and extends 

 also to the bush veld, its range being from about 3,500 feet (or lower) to 5,500 

 feet or more. It is common in sandy soils in British Bechuanaland, where the 

 rainfall is perhaps not more than 10 inches, coming in summer." {Davy.) 



Distribution. — A perennial grass found in Portuguese West Africa and south- 

 ward to the Cape. 



34819. Elichrysum orientale (L.) Gaertn. Immortelle. 



From Toulon, France, Presented by Mr. M. F. Mansfield, consular agent, through 

 the American consul general at Marseille. Received November 25, 1913. 



"The choice of soil is very important. Rocky or sandy soils with southern expos- 

 ure are best adapted for this purpose. In rich, deep, cold soils the immortelle is 

 killed by the first frosts. 



"After the soil has been broken and well prepared, the gTound is laid out in rows 

 40 to 50 centimeters apart (15.74 to 19.68 inches); in these rows the young plants are 

 set out at a distance of 30 to 35 centimeters (11.81 to 13.77 inches) from each other. 

 Care should be taken to heap up the soil about the roots. These early plants should 

 be watered by means of a sprinkler. If it should rain after the planting, sprinkling 

 would be unnecessary. It would be advisable during the first four or five days to 

 protect these young plants from the hot rays of the sun. When they have begun to 

 grow, they should be exposed to the full rays of the sun, and during the winter pro- 

 tected from the cold, for the immortelle is very sensitive to frost. It is for this reason 

 that the immortelle is cultivated at Ollioules and Bandol only in soils well exposed 

 to the sun and upon the southern slopes. 



* ' Cultivation of the immortelle is exceedingly simple. It consists in spading lightly 

 the ground about the plant and applying a suitable fertilizer. The groimd should be 

 spaded whenever weeds spring up around the plants. As for the fertilizer, it con- 

 sists of oil cakes and stable manure, which is placed about the roots of the young 

 plants when they have attained a certain development. The fertilizer should be 

 renewed in this region every year, in October or November. 



"The immortelle commences to yield after the second year and continues to bloom 

 even more than 20 years. In this region the flower is gathered in June or July. At 

 the moment the flowers commence to open and show a small red point in the center 

 and are of a beautiful golden yellow, they should be gathered. When the flowers 

 have arrived at this degree of maturity, they should be immediately gathered, for 

 they open very rapidly and lose their commercial value. After the flowers have been 



