4 



SEEDS AND PLAINTS IMPORTED. 



The currebau-sevil (Piptadenia cehil^ No. 52501) of Bolivia, 

 which, according to Mr. Meschrutz, yields one of the best tanning 

 materials, is a tree adapted to growing on stiff clay soils where little 

 rain falls. 



Medicinal plants. — In this inventory is described the chaulmoogra 

 oil-producing tree, Taraktogenos kurzii (No. 52803), to secure which 

 J. F. Rock made his expedition into Siam, Burma, and Assam. 

 He also collected Eydnocarpus anthelminthica (No. 52465), the 

 Siamese maikrabao tree, and TI. castanea (No. 52514), one of the 

 kalaw trees of Burma, from both of which similar oils are obtained. 

 Where in America these trees can be grown is a problem to be solved 

 by trial only. The Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, the Philippines, 

 and the Canal Zone are presumably the logical places for them, and 

 it is in these regions, too, that there is the keenest interest in the cure 

 of leprosy. However, it is contemplated that specimens will be 

 sent to other countries in order to make sure that these valuable 

 drug-producing trees find a congenial home and come into culti- 

 vation where they can furnish an adequate number of seeds to supply 

 the demand created by the new discoveries in the methods of treat- 

 ing this loathsome bacterial disease. 



Fruits. — At first thought there does not seem to be a very large 

 number of different kinds of fruits in cultivation by civilized man, 

 but there really are a great many. The introductions for the three 

 months covered by this inventory include, for example, 16 rare or 

 little-known species or varieties. Wilson Popenoe introduces the 

 capulin, or Ambato cherry, a form of Prunus serotina (No. 52720) 

 which, though from a region of little frost, bears prodigious 

 crops of fruits as large as the Early Richmond cherry and may 

 prove to be the southern cherry of the future. He finds the Andes 

 berry, Rubus glaucus (Nos. 52733 and 52734), as good as any of our 

 cultivated species. The babaco (No. 52574) and the chamburo 

 (No. 52721), both interesting species of Carica from Ambato, Ecua- 

 dor, have a degree of hardiness which should insure their success 

 in California, and although they are quite different from the true 

 papaya, being edible only when cooked, they should prove valuable 

 additions to our horticulture either directly or through hybridiza- 

 tion. They will probably not compare directly with the Solo papaya 

 of Hawaii (No. 52620), a selected uniformly shaped fruit of ex- 

 cellent quality which is recommended by the territorial experi- 

 ment station for general cultivation because of its hermaphrodite 

 flowers and the fact that the variety comes reasonably true from seed. 



An attractive Syrian species of Sorbus, S. trilobata (No. 52600), 

 Professor Poirault presents as one bearing fruits suitable for pre- 

 serves; and M. Auguste Chevalier, of Paris, has sent us the seeds 



