INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY 

 THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRO- 

 DUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1 

 TO MARCH 31, 1921 (NO. 66; NOS. 52306 TO 52854). 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



During the 73 working days of which this inventory is a record 

 549 new lots of plant immigrants arrived in Washington and were 

 inspected, fumigated, labeled, and planted in the various gardens of 

 the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. They came from 

 all over the world, recommended for some particular purpose, and 

 those which we are able to propagate will go out to the regions best 

 suited to their culture and find their way into the hands of bona 

 fide plant experimenters, who will do something with them. 



Forest trees. — To those who realize that it may not necessarily 

 be our own native forest trees which will prove best adapted for 

 forest purposes, the following new introductions will be of interest : 

 The Canary Islands pine, Pinus cannidensis (No. 52817), has been 

 very successfully grown in South Africa and Chile as a timber tree, 

 and its valuable hard wood may make it a species worth growing 

 extensively in southern California. 



Of interest to lovers of fine conifers are the following : The char- 

 acteristic spruce of the great Tianshan Mountain range of Turkestan, 

 Picea schrenkiana (No. 52659) ; a variety of the Siberian fir from the 

 Amur River, Ahies sihirica nephrolepis (No. 52623) ; a species from 

 the Szechwan Province of China, Ahies faxoniana (No. 52622) ; and a 

 rare one from the Min Valley of China, Ahies recurvata (No. 

 52624)— the last three presented by the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, of 

 Elstree, England. It is to be hoped that we can find a place in this 

 country for the Taiwania {T. cryptomerioides^ No. 52570), which is, 

 according to E. H. Wilson, who secured seeds and plants on his last 

 expedition, the loftiest tree of the Formosan forest. It resembles a 

 giant lycopod, reaches a height of 180 or even 200 feet, and has a girth 

 of 30 feet. We are indebted to the Arnold Arboretum for propagat- 

 ing material of this species. 



For the cool coastal regions of the Pacific coast the Chilean evergreen 

 beeches {Nothofagus spp.) appear to be particularly well adapted, 



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