OCTOBER 1 TO DECKMBL'K .11, . 



11 



54450. Dendrocalamus sikkimensis Gamble. Poacese. Bamboo. 



From Dehra Dun, India. Seeds presented by R. S. Hole, forest botanist, 

 Forest Research Institute and College. Received October 19, 1921. 



A beautiful tufted bamboo with few culms, 60 feet or more high ; it grows 

 largest in Sikkim, where it has bigger culms than those of Dendrocalamus ham- 

 iltonii and is the one preferred for making the " chungas " for carrying water 

 and milk and for churning butter. The dark-green culms are 5 to 7 inches in 

 diameter, naked below, branched above. The oblong-lanceolate leaves, 6 to 10 

 inches long, are said to be poisonous. The species is readily distinguished by 

 its large, red-bro\\Ti, globose flower heads, densely velvety felted stem-sheath, 

 and long ciliate auricles of the leaf sheath. Native to the northeast Himalayas 

 in Sikkim and Bhutan at altitudes of 4,000 to 6,000 feet, and at Tura Peak, 

 Garo Hills, at 3,500 feet. (Adapted from Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Calcutta, vol. 7, p. 82.) 



54451 to 54453. 



From Syria. Seeds presented by W. R. Meadows, through C. S. Scofield, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Received October 14, 1921. 

 Quoted notes by Mr. Scofield. 



54451. Calotropis proceea Ait. Asclepiadacese. 



"A plant in which Mr. Meadows is particularly interested. It Is 

 known, where he collected it, as artificial silk or vegetable silk. He 

 found it growing at Haifa, Syria, on September 7, 1921. Mr. Meadows 

 believes the fiber to have sufficient strength to be used as a filler yarn 

 and hopes that the plant may be produced under observation at some 

 point in the southwestern United States." 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 51429. 



54452 and 54453. Ceratonia siliqua L. Csesalpiniacese. Carob. 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 45924. 



54452. " Honey carob selected at the Carmelite monastery near 

 Haifa, on September 7, 1921. Said to contain a larger percentage 

 of sugar than the ordinary carob." 



54453. " Shade-tree carob from the Mount of Olives, just outside of 

 Jerusalem, collected September 4, 1921." 



54454 and 54455. Coix lacryma-jobi ma-yuen (Rom.) Stapf. 



Poacese. Ma-yuen. 



From Manila, Philippine Islands. Seeds presented by P. J. Wester, agri- 

 cultural adviser, Bureau of Agriculture, through Dr. C. V. Piper, United 

 States Department of Agriculture. Received October 22, 1921. 



Adlay. A form with soft hulls and very distinct from the ordinary Coix 

 lacryma-joH with hard, beadlike, shining grains. The soft-hulled, edible sub- 

 species under discussion here does not appear to have been known to European 

 writers until in the seventeenth century, though in India, its native habitat, this 

 grain was of very ancient cultivation. Certain forms are roasted, then husked 

 and eaten whole, being either parched (like corn) or boiled in the same manner 

 as rice. Other forms are so very different that the grain may be milled and 

 ground to flour and thereafter baked into bread. In China the grain is eaten 

 in soup like pearl barley, which it very much resembles in appearance. 



The Bukidnon forms are very vigorous and attain a height of 2 to more than 

 2.5 meters (8 feet) under favorable conditions. One plant will make from 

 two to four straws, sometimes five. The roots are shallow and rarely extend 

 beyond 35 to 40 centimeters (14 to 16 inches) from the plant. The yield of 

 grain harvested in 1918 from a plat 5 by 6 meters (16 by 20 feet) in Bukidnon 

 was 3,625 kilos to the hectare (3,236 pounds per acre), of which 72 per cent 

 was hulled clean grain. 



