4 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



John McLaren, superintendent of Golden Gate Park, San Fran- 

 cisco, has contributed a new ornamental Chilean shrub with small 

 edible fruits possessing a raspberry flavor, Eugenia luma (No. 

 53591). 



Benito Carrasco has sent in a plant for covering bare arid soils, 

 which produces ivory-white berries with a pineapple flavor, 8alpi- 

 chroa rhomhoidca (No. 53608). 



Friends of P. H. Rolfs will watch w^ith interest the growth of two 

 new grasses from Minas Geraes, Brazil {Axonopus sp., No. 52917, 

 and BrachiaHa plantaginea^ No. 52918) ; the former, he finds, covers 

 the ground there more densely than does the best St. Augustine 

 grass, being very persistent and crowding out everything else. 



Before he was wounded and obliged to return to America, the 

 noted naturalist, George K. Cherrie, of the American Museum of 

 Natural History in New York, sent in some seeds of a remarkable 

 blackberry {Ruhus sp., No. 53545) which he discovered on the Zamora 

 River in Ecuador at an altitude of 5,500 feet. Of it he remarks, 

 " I do not believe I have ever seen such tremendous clusters of berries. 

 The latter are large and to me very fine flavored." 



P. J. Wester, to whom we are indebted for many Philippine plants, 

 presents in this inventory a new and practically seedless variety of 

 the mabolo, a tropical persimmon {Diospyros discolor^ No. 53555), 

 which is sweeter, more juicy, and of better flavor than the ordinary 

 sort and ought to be distributed throughout the Tropics. 



Doctor Proschowsky, of Nice, France, whom few correspondents 

 have equaled in generosity, has added to his gifts the wild apple 

 from the high plateau of Indo China {Malus laosensis^^ No. 52900). 

 Since this grows into a large tree and produces fruit similar in 

 shape, color, and flavor to certain cider pears of Normandy, but grows 

 wild in the dense forests of Indo China, it may possibly prove val- 

 uable either as a stock or in the creation of an apple which can be 

 grown in southern latitudes. The wild apple {Malus doumeri^ No. 

 53008), which Mr. Mieville, of the Agricultural Station at Chieng 

 Khuang, sent in from Laos, Indo China, may pro^ similarly useful. 



P. C. Standley, of the National Museum, has recently described a 

 tropical persimmon {Diosjryros conzattii, No. 53176), which produces 

 fruit superior, in his opinion, to that of D. ehenaster^ and resembles 

 somewhat the delicious sapodilla. It may prove suitable for culti- 

 vation in parts of Florida, Hawaii, and Porto Rico. 



The spiny palms of the genus Acrocomia have proved to be very 

 rapid growers in southern Florida, some of them equaling the coco- 

 nut in this respect when planted on pinelands. In view of its abil- 

 ity to withstand severe drought, its hardiness, and the value of its 

 kernels, the macauba palm (Acrocomia sclerocarpa, No. 53487), 

 which Thomas R. Gwynn has sent in from Paraguay, would appear 

 to be a most desirable introduction. 



The fundi grass of Nigeria [Digitaria exilis. No. 53486) Professor 

 Piper reports has proved remarkably promising for forage in the 

 Southern States. 



The apricot of Harput, Syria (No. 52914), which grows to be as 

 large as a peach and possesses a remarkable flavor, deserves to be 

 tried in California. 



