Inventory 64, Seeds and Plants Imported. 



Plate V. 



A Wild Avocado Tree in Costa Rica. (Persea sp., Probably 



P. AMERICANA MILL., S. P. I. NO. 51031.) 



This wild avocado, which, up to the present, has been observed only on the slopes of the volcano 

 Irazu, in central Costa Rica, is beUeved by its discoverers, Wilson Popenoe and!^ Oton Jimenez, to 

 be the wild prototype of the cultivated Guatemalan race of avocados, and probably of the West 

 Indian as weU. It is quite distinct from the Mexican avocado both in appearance of tree and 

 foUage and in the character of the fruit. Because of its wild nature and the vigor of its growth it 

 is believed this avocado may be of value as a stock plant on which to graft cultivated sorts. (Pho- 

 tographed by Wilson Popenoe, near La Palma, Costa Rica, June 9, 1920; P17902FS.) 



