STRYCHNOS SPINOSA. 
Natural size photograph of the first fruits produced in 
America of Plant Introduction No. 9611. The seeds were 
secured by Messrs. Lathrop and Fairchild at Lourengo Marquez, 
Portuguese last Africa, in February, 1903, and a tree grown 
at Miami, Plorida, fruited for the first time in April 1911. 
This is an extremely interesting new subtropical fruit. It 
is perfectly round like a cannon ball, and has a shell so 
hard that it has to be cracked with a hammer. This specimen 
was picked green, sent to Washington and kept for three weeks 
in my office. While green it has no aroma, but as it ripens 
it becomes so aromatic that it scents the room with the odor 
of cloves. The seeds are supposed to be poisonous, since the 
plant belongs to the same genus as that from which strychnine 
is obtained, but an examination showed scarcely a trace of 
this poison in those contained in this fruit. The pulp is 
about the consistency of a very ripe banana and reminds one 
of it in flavor, though it has in addition a distinct and 
pleasing flavor of cloves. When it is considered that this is 
still a wild fruit and that there are other edible relatives, 
it becomes worthy of the attention of subtropical plant 
breeders. (Pairchild.) 
