OCTOBER 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1913. 



53 



36688 to 36715— Continued 



Myrciaria jaboticaba Berg, which, according to Barbosa Rodrigues, is cormnonly 

 known as jaboticaba de Sao Paulo. Its foliage is much larger than the common 

 jaboticaba which grows around Rio de Janeiro. Murta is said to be a large- 

 fruited variety, but we have seen only young plants of it. Coroa we saw in 

 fruit at a local nursery, and it seems to be the common local variety, which is 

 described farther on. Branca (white) is a little-known, small-fruited variety. 



'•The fruits seen in the market here vary greatly in size, but othen\4se seem 

 to be about alike. A good specimen is an inch and a half in diameter, round 

 or nearly so, and dark maroon-purple in color, greatly resembling in appearance 

 some of the grapes of the rotundifoUa type. This resemblance extends to the 

 internal characteristics of the fruit as well, the textiu^e of the flesh, its color 

 and flavor, as well as the seeds, suggesting a grape more than any other tem- 

 perate fruit. The skin is thick and very tough; it is broken by squeezing the 

 fruit with the thumb and finger, when the pulp slides out into the mouth and 

 the skin is discarded. The pulp is translucent, very juicy, and of a subacid, 

 pleasant flavor, with a rather peculiar tang, which one is not siu-e to like at first, 

 but which is very agreeable as soon as one becomes accustomed to it. The 

 seeds, one to four in number, are rather large and adhere closely to the pulp; 

 the boys here seem to swallow them, but this may not be a very desirable 

 proceeding from a physiological standpoint. The Brazilians seem almost pas- 

 sionately fond of this fruit, especially the children, who spend hours at a time 

 under the trees hunting for the ripe fruits and then working them off with a 

 long pole if they are where they can not be reached. 



'•Following is a pomological description of the fruit as piu-chased in the 

 Rio de Janeiro market and as seen growing in gardens arftund the city: General 

 form slightly oblate to very broadly p\Tiform. with a majority of the specimens 

 round or very nearly so: cross section regularly round; length three-fourths to 

 1 J inches, breadth three-fourths to 1 § inches; base of fruit in some cases slightly 

 extended, in others slightly flattened; apex usually slightly flattened, with a 

 small disk and vestiges of the four sepals; surface smooth, somewhat glossy to 

 very glossy, color purplish maroon to maroon-purple when fully ripe; skin one- 

 sixteenth inch thick, tough and leathery, and not easily broken, but separating 

 readily from the flesh, which comes out in a body when the sldn is broken; 

 flesh translucent, whitish, jellylike in consistency, full of juice; flavor vinous, 

 with a peculiar tang of its own; seeds nonnally four, but one to three sometimes 

 abortive. Three seems to be the commonest number, but two is also common, 

 and a few have been seen with five. Shape of seed oval to almost round, flat- 

 tened laterally, three-eighths to one-half inch long, one-eighth inch thick; 

 seed coats ver^^ thin. Practically no cultivation is given the trees we have 

 seen, and we have heard of no other way of propagating them than by seed." 



36703. Amygdalus persica L. Peach. 

 (Prumis persica Stokes.) 



"(No. 6a. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. October 24, 1913.) One hundred and 

 eighty seeds from small, inferior, but somewhat peculiar peaches purchased in 

 the market. This peach is of a rather dirty green color, the flesh white, some- 

 times slightly tinged with red at the stone. The quality is poor, and there is 

 little juice. Ninety per cent or more were infested with maggots. We have 

 not seen the trees upon which peaches of this kind grow. They may be used 

 for stocks or possibly for breeding." 



36704. SoLANUM ACULEATissiMUM Jacquiu. o 



"(No. 8a. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. October 23,^^ 1913.) Five fruits secured 

 along the roadside of the Tijuca Drive. They are fron^l inch to 1^ inches in 



