80 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



36889 to 36896— Continued. 



be fried in deep oil, are delicious, superior to those fried in the fine qualities 

 of pure light-green olive oil that I have seen. The seeds roasted lightly over a 

 fire in an ordinary saucepan are often added to cakes, somewhat like the poppy 

 seeds the Germans are so fond of over their various breads and rolls, and often 

 some of the fancy rice dishes are made with a mixture of the sesame seed. It 

 is used largely to sprinkle over the sticks of barley sugar sold on the streets, 

 performing the double office of powder to keep the candy from sticking together 

 and adding a nutty flavor, which enriches the candy." (Kin.) 



36897 to 36899. 



From Hongkong, China. Presented by I^Ir. W. J. Tutcher, superintendent. 

 Botanical and Forestry Department. Received December 27, 1913. 

 36897. Aleurites Montana (Lour.) Wils. Mu-yu (wood-oil) tree. 



"Mu-yu. The three species of Aleurites,/or(7nHemsl., moniana (Lour.) Wils., 

 and cordata R. Br., from very early times have been almost hopelessly confused. 

 The first mention of the Mu-yu shu (literally, wood-oil tree), A. montana (Lom:,) 

 Wils., occurs in Lamarck's Encyclopedic Methodique Botanique, where, under 

 the name Dryandra oleifera, the fruit of this tree is described, in conjunction with 

 the flowers and foUage of A. cordata R. Br. He [Lamarck*] states that it is called 

 Mou-yeou by the Chinese and that it was cultivated in the Jardin du Roi, at 

 risle de France. The Jesuit missionary, Loureiro, a Portuguese, established 

 himself at Canton in 1779, and for three years investigated the flora of that 

 region. He secured specimens of the Mu-yu shu, and in his Flora Cochinchi- 

 nensis, page 518 (1790), describes it as Vernicia montana, and his specific name, 

 being the oldest valid name, must stand. Subsequent authors have given 

 other names to this tree, and several of them, notably Mueller Arg. (in De 

 Candolle's Prodromus, vol. xv, pt. 2, p. 724, 1866), continued the confusion 

 begun by Lamarck (loc. cit,), 



"As a cultivated tree, A. montana occurs in the subtropical parts of south- 

 eastern China, from the province of Fokien southward to Tonkin, and is also 

 undoubtedly a native of these regions. It requires, without question, a sub- 

 tropical climate and a more abundant rainfall than its more northern relative, 

 A. fordii. In the central part of the Fokien Pro\ince, both Mu-yu and 

 Tung-yu trees occur, according to Dunn (Report of the Botanical and Forestry 

 Department, Hongkong, 1905, p. 117), and are known colloquially as Ewa- 

 tung and Guong-tung, respectively. The Ewa-tung, to quote Dunn, 'is the 

 most valued, because all the flowers of the majority of the trees produce fruit 

 frofti which the oil is made, while in the second kind a few flowers only in each 

 cluster are perfect, quite 80 per cent being male flowers.' This statement is 

 not borne out by specimens before me, including some collected in Fokien by 

 Dunn. The inflorescences might almost be classed into male and female, 

 but there is nothing to indicate whether or not they came from the same or 

 different trees. From the herbarium material one might reasonably assume 

 that the tree was nearly dioecious, yet in all probability it is monoecious, as in 

 other species of the family, but with a strong tendency to have the male and 

 female flowers collected in different inflorescence of the same tree. 



"The Mu-yu tree in size, habit, foliage, and general appearance (but not in 

 the flowers and fruits) closely resembles the Tung-yu tree (A. fordii Hemsl.). 

 The flowers are borne in a terminal corymb or a raceme on shoots of the current 

 season's growth after the leaves have fully expanded. The 'male' inflores- 

 cence is many flowered, much branched, corymbose, 15 to 20 cm. long, and 

 20 to 30 cm. (1 cm. equals 0.3937 inch) broad. The 'female' inflorescence is 



