4 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



Rhxts lancea (No. 48821) Dr. Shantz believes deserves careful study 

 as a shade and timber tree for the southern Texas region, provided 

 it will stand the frosts there. 



Since the Stri/chnos spinosa has proved adapted to culture in 

 southern Florida, another species, S. pungens (Nos. 48824 and 

 48825), iiKiy do as well. It forms an important element of the food 

 of wild elephants in Mozambique, where the fruits, as large as 

 pummelas, often lie thick on the ground beneath the trees. 



Though no commercial variety of corn or sorghum may come 

 directly from them, it is important for the cereal breeder to have for 

 his work the types of these cereals which for centtiries, perhaps, have 

 been cultivated by the native African tribes. Under Nos. 48827 

 to 48832 are described authentic ears of the corn grown by the 

 Basutos, who still control one of the least disturbed sections of South 

 Africa, and under Nos. 48849 to 48859 are described a collection of 

 their sorghums. 



Through Mr. F. L. Rockwood, of Bogota, Colombia, comes an in- 

 troduction of the seeds of the giant Colombian blackberry {Rubus 

 nncuci'ocarpus^ Nos. 48751 and 48752), which was later studied ex- 

 haustively by Mr. Wilson Popenoe. 



Mr. Edwin Ashby, of Blackwood, South Australia, has contributed 

 a new xA^ustralian fruiting bush {Acrotriche depressa^ No. 48800) 

 suited to regions of light rainfall (15 to 25 inches). It is known as 

 the " native currant." The bushes are not over 2 feet high and bear 

 their fruits in great abundance in masses low down on the main 

 stems. This new fruit seems certainly worthy of the attention of the 

 horticulturists of Texas, Arizona, and southern California. 



Through the Forestry Commission of New South Wales a quantity 

 of seeds of the quandong, or " native peach " (Mida aciommata, No. 

 48837) , has been obtained. This tree grows in the hotter and drier 

 parts of New^ South Wales and bears red fruit (from IJ to 3 inches 

 in circumference), which make excellent conserve and jelly. 



Dr. Alvaro da Silveira, of Minas Geraes, Brazil, sends the pusa 

 {MouHria pusa, No. 48838), a new fruit about the size of a wild 

 cherry, which is borne on a small tree 10 feet high and which ought 

 to grow in southern Florida and California. 



American children are all familiar with the elderberry, and their 

 faces have more than once been stained by its fruits. Hugo Mulertt, 

 of Wiesbaden, Germany, has discovered a mutation of the European 

 elderberry (Samhucus nigra, No. 48839) , which has very large berries 

 that instead of being black are greenish golden in color and semi- 

 transparent : they do not stain linen or one's teeth and yet are most 

 excellent when cooked. 



