1095 
rounded; surface slightly rough, deep green in color 
with -few small yellowish dots; skin moderately gran- 
ular, woody, and brittle; flesh abundant, deep yellow 
in color, changing to pale green near the skin, said" 
to be of unusually rich flavor; quality probably very 
good to excellent; seed rather small in comparison to 
the size of the fruit, roundish oblate in form, 1| 
inches long, If inches broad, with both seed coats 
adhering closely, and fitting tightly in the cavity. 
Season at Coban said to be January to April. At the 
time of my visit the fruits were not quite ripe. The 
parent tree is 30 years old, with a trunk 18 inches 
in diameter at the base, and a dense spreading crown 
40 feet aroad." (Popenoe.) 
Persea a merieana Miller. (Lauraceae.) 43933-43935. 
Cuttings of Avocado from San Cristobal Verapaz, Guate- 
mala. Collected by Mr. Wilson Popenoe, Agricultural 
Explorer of this Department. 43933. "Prom the door- 
yard of an Indian in the southwest quarter of the 
village of San Cristobal. A very attractive small 
fruit, selected first for its earliness in ripening, 
and secondly for its productiveness and good- quality. 
It is more or less pear-shaped, weighs about half a 
pound, is nearly smooth externally and of a bright 
green color, while the seed is unusually small and 
the flesh is of good quality for an early ripening 
variety. It is noteworthy that nearly all the early 
varieties I have found in Guatemala are inferior in 
richness of flavor to those which ripen later, and It 
als'o seems that a great many of them have large seeds. 
This was especially notable in the fruits examined 
around Antigua. Form elliptic pyrlform, not distinctly 
necked; size below medium, weight 8 to 9 ozs., length 
3f Inches, breadth 2f inches; base narrowly pointed, 
the stem inserted almost squarely without depression; 
apex obliquely flattened though not conspicuously so; 
surface nearly smooth, bright green in color, with 
numerous minute yellowish dots; skin 1/16 to nearly § 
inch thick, coarsely granular and woody, brittle; 
flesh cream color, tinged with pale green near the 
skin, free from fiber and of smooth, firm texture; 
flavor nutty, pleasant, not so oily as in some of the 
later varieties; quality good; seed small in comparison 
with the size of the fruit, broadly elliptic to spher- 
ical in form, weight 1 oz., both the seed coats rather 
thin and adhering closely to the smooth cotyledons - 
The parent tree is about 45 feet high, with a spread 
