114 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



38291 and 38292 — Contd. (Quoted notes by Commander Stearns.) 



38292. Cakica papaya L. Papayaceae. Papaya. 

 " The mummy-apple tree is very prolific in Samoa. Any land that is 



cleared, no matter where its location, unless immediately put in cultiva- 

 tion, will be covered in a few months with a thick growth of mummy 

 apples. It has been suggested that the mummy-apple seeds were carried 

 by birds, but they grow so proli£cally that this seems almost impossible. 

 I have known tracts of land cleared in Samoa and inside a year to be 

 so thick with mummy-apple trees that a man could not walk over the 

 land without cutting his way through, the mummy-apples being so 

 closely spaced and coming up without apparent cause. Mummy-apples 

 are used here as a fruit for breakfast. The seeds are eaten by many 

 as an aid to digestion, as they contain a digestive somewhat similar 

 to pepsin; the fruits are also baked like squash. The flesh is used to 

 flavor ice cream, as a diet for the sick, in fruit salad, arid in a number 

 of other dishes, so it is a rather valuable fruit to us." 



38293 and 38294. 



From Lamao, Bataan, Philippine Islands. Presented by Mr. P. J. Wester, 

 horticulturist. Division of Horticulture, Lamao Experiment Station. 

 Received May 25, 1914. 



38293. Citrus hystrix DC. Rutacese. 



" Cabuyao. A thorny tree from 6 to 12 meters in height, with a 

 rather dense rounded head, frequently with drooping branches; young 

 growth more or less purplish, smooth; leaves 16 to 24 centimeters long, 

 ovate, acute, smooth, shining, lighter below than above, crenate; petioles 

 8.5 to 12 centimeters long, broadly winged, the area of the wings fre- 

 quently exceeding the leaf area ; fruit variable, from oblate to pyrif orm 

 turbinate or oblong, smooth to more or less corrugate, greenish lemon- 

 yellow; rind medium thick; flesh greenish, juicy, sharply acid, aromatic, 

 contained in 12 to 15 locules; juice sacs short and blunt; seeds usually 

 many, flat, reticulate. Malaysia, including the Philippines to India. 

 Like all other Philippine citrus fruits, the cabuyao goes under a multi- 

 plicity of names, varying with the many tribal languages of the Archi- 

 pelago and the different forms of the fruit ; some of these names are 

 auha, halincolong, biasong, tibulit, colobot, etc. Excepting the citron, 

 the cabuyao is perhaps less esteemed than any of the better known 

 citrus fruits in the Philippines and can scarcely be said to be cultivated. 

 Some kinds are eaten with fish by the Filipinos and make a fairly good 

 ade. Most forms are also used in cleaning clothes and as a hair wash. 

 The cabuyao has scarcely been introduced beyond its native habitat and 

 is seldom seen even in botanical collections. For attractive shape lines 

 certain forms of the cabuyao are surpassed by no other citrus fruit. 

 Some of these forms unquestionably w^ill be recognized as subspecies 

 on closer study, or possibly as separate species." (Wester, Bulletin No. 

 27, Citriculture in the Philippines.) 



For a further account of the cabuyao and related forms see Wester's 

 Citrus Fruits in the Philippines, Philippine Agricultural Review, First 

 Quarter, 1915. 



88294. Lageestroemia speciosa (Muenchh.) Pers. Lythracese. 



{Lagerstroemia flos-reginae Retz.) Crape myrtle. 



" Banaba. One of our most showy forest trees when it is in bloom. 

 The wood is valuable also, very hard, and almost indestructible. It 

 ought to be introduced into Porto Rico and Panama." (Wester.) 



