26 



SEEDS AXD PLAXTS IMPORTED. 



34915. LiCAXiA PLATYPUS (Hemsl.) Fritscli. Sansapote. 



{ Moquilea platypus Hemsl.) 



From San Jose, Costa Rica. Presented by the Department of Agriculture. 

 Received January 29. 1913. 

 ■^Belonging to the family Rosacea?. It grows in the form of a tree, rather scarce on 

 the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, but more common in other parts of Central America, 

 where it is sometimes known as Sunza. The fruit is large, somewhat oblong, with a 

 reddish gray skin; the flesh yellowish, fibrous, and rather sweet, inclosing an oval, 

 depressed seed." (TT. E. Safford.) 

 See S. P. I. No. 31 686 for preAious introduction. 

 Roots. 



34916 to 34919. Kerstingtella geocarpa Harms. Kandela. 



From Togoland, Africa. Presented by Dr. A. Engler, director, KonigUches 

 Botanisches Museum, Dahlem, Berlin, Germany, Received March 20, 1913. 



'•This remarkable new edible bean was first described by Dr. H. Harms, in 1909, 

 from specimens forwarded by Dr. Kersting. of Sokode, Togoland. Since then it has 

 been in cultivation and under obsen-ation in the botanic gardens at Dahlem and 

 Jena, and last year Dr. Harms published a short article in which he summarized 

 briefly what was then known about this ground bean, adding some valuable infor- 

 mation concerning the conditions of its cultivation. 



" * Two years ago I called attention to an important botanical discovery hy Dr. 

 Kersting, who, in the northern temtory of Sokode-Basari, Togoland, came across an 

 especially interesting new kind of bean which matures its pods below instead of 

 above ground. The well-known groundnut {Arachis hypogaea) and the peanut (' Voand- 

 zeia suhterranea) are similar instances. Kersting found that the natives of Togoland 

 cultivated the bean, which they called J:andeh, in three varieties distinguished by 

 their colors. I described this bean, which is not known in the wild state, as Ke/'' 

 ttingiella geocarpa, the type of a new genus of Leguminosae. 



" 'In July, 1910, Auguste Chevalier, the indefatigable Afiican explorer, reported 

 the existence in Dahomey of a plant which, to judge from the description, was very 

 similar to. if not identical with. Kersting 's bean. He named it Voandzeia poissoni, 

 a new species of the genus of the peanut, giving the Dahomey name as ' 'Doi. ' ' fCompt. 

 Rend., vol. 151, p. 84.) The beans are sold in the market of Abomey by the natives, 

 who grow them largely. There were also here colored varieties (white, black, and 

 mottled). An account may be found in Quinzaine Coloniale, 1910, Xo. 16. page 590. 

 Chevalier's description suggested at once the identity of the Dahomey and the Togo 

 bean. M. Chevalier was, on his retm-n from Africa, good enough to send me a speci- 

 men of his Dahomey plant whilst I supplied him with material from Togoland, and 

 our comparisons proved that the two beans were actually identical or, in other words, 

 that the Togo bean extended into Dahomey, and M. Chevalier has already stated 

 ^Compt. Rend., vol. 151, p. 1374) that he, too, considered his species as identical 

 with Kerstingiella geocarpa. He gives an important account of its distribution in 

 Dahomey, quoting various vernacular names. The species is also said to occur in 

 British Xigeria. but up to the present I have seen no specimens from there. In 

 Togo, as well as in Dahomey, the plant is known only in the cultivated state, which 

 renders Kersting 's and Chevalier's discoveries the more remarkable. 



' Chevalier gives analyses ( Quinzaine Coloniale, 1910, Xo. 16, p. 1375) which show 

 that the nutritive value of the beans is xery considerable, They are said to equal 

 the richest peanuts ( Voandzeia suhterranea) in nutritious matter, whilst they have at 

 the same time a more pleasant taste, particularly for Europeans, recalling that of the 

 finest varieties of beans. The }deld. owing to the smallness of the seed (8 to 10 mm. 



