2 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



is a slender palm which bears as much as 125 pounds of dry mealy 

 fruits that, when boiled in salted water, resemble chestnuts in texture 

 and flavor. It bears in 6 to 8 years, lives to be 50 years old, is the 

 favorite vegetable fruit of the Costa Ricans, and a most important 

 commercial product. Every attempt should be made, Mr. Popenoe 

 thinks, to cultivate this in western Florida, where it may succeed. 

 His discovery of seedless forms (Nos. 51091 and 51092) in Costa 

 Rica is worthy of special mention; and we wish to record here our 

 appreciation of the gifts of offshoots of these palms by Dona Amparo 

 de Zeledon and by Alfredo Brade, as also the assistance rendered 

 Mr. Popenoe, during his stay in Costa Rica, by Oton Jimenez, an 

 active young botanist of San Jose. 



From Zanzibar in June, 1920, Doctor Shantz shipped a most 

 remarkable collection of 241 introductions (Nos. 50726 to 50966) 

 obtained by him in the region of Nyanza, Lake Tanganyika, Dar es 

 Salaam, Urundi, and Ujiji. These represent, in the main, varieties 

 of the grain and vegetable crops of the native agricultural tribes 

 of this interesting region, and out of the collection can hardly fail 

 to come strains of sorghum, beans, corn, or other plants which, 

 through breeding, will add to our own American varieties of these 

 crops such characters as resistance to drought or disease. 



The dahlia has become of such importance to our horticulture 

 and there are so many breeders of it that a collection of tree dahlias 

 {Dahlia spp., Nos. 51086 to 51090) from Costa Rica can scarcely 

 fail to be of interest as material for breeding purposes. 



Mr. Popenoe's wild raspberry {Rubus emocarpus^ No. 51094) from 

 10,000 feet altitude on the slopes of the Volcano Irazu may prove of 

 value to breeders. 



Ideal street trees are an asset to any country, and Mr. Popenoe, 

 in getting seeds of the muneco {Cordia nitida. No. 51118) of Costa 

 Rica, may have introduced a valuable one for southern Florida. 



The tacaco {Polakowskia tacaco^ No. 51122), like the chayote of 

 Guatemala, is a favorite vegetable among Costa Ricans and accord- 

 ing to Mr. Popenoe deserves to be improved by selection. 



From the well-known collector, Carlos Werckle, Mr. Popenoe 

 procured a new fruit tree of the genus Coccolobis (No. 50683) and 

 an as yet undetermined fruit tree (No. 50692) which he thinks may 

 be a new genus ; both have tart edible fruits of some promise. 



The new and handsome shrub {Wercklea insignis^ Nos. 51124 and 

 51125), named for Mr. Werckle and having bright-lilac flowers re- 

 sembling in size and form the well-known Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, 

 may grow in California and Florida and become popular. 



From Bogota, Colombia, Mr. Popenoe sends a wild blackberry 

 {Rubus urticaefolius^ No. 51354), from an altitude of 5,000 feet, and 

 Erythrina edulis (No. 51357), the seeds of which furnish an impor- 



