957 
distributed in the West Indies. It yields a blue dye, and 
the wood is used for minor purposes when toughness is re- 
quired." (Cook & Collins, Economic Plants of Porto Rico, 
Contributions from the National Herbarium, Vol." 8, p. 228.) 
Styrax hookeri C.B.Clarke. ( Styracaceae . ) 41815. Seeds 
from Darjeeling, India. Presented by Mr. Q. H. Cave, Lloyd 
Botanic Garden. "This Is a small tree frequently met with 
in Slkkim and Bhutan at altitudes between 6,000 and 7,000 
feet. The wood is white, close-grained, and moderately 
hard." (Watt.'s Dictionary of the Products of India.) 
'■ Temeda spp. (Poaceae.) 41748 & 41767. Seeds of kang- 
aroo grass from the Australian Exhibit at the Panama -Pac- 
ific Internatinnal Exposition, San Francisco, Calif. Pro- 
cured by Mr. Roland McKee. Themeda fdrskalii Hackel. 41757. 
"Common form of kangaroo grass. There are several forms of 
this species but all are equally good fodder grasses; 3 
feet, fine stems, medium leafy, fair seed habit." (McKee.) 
Themeda gigantea avenacea (F.Muell.) Hackel. 41748. "A good 
fodder grass, 6 feet, rather coarse, medium leafy, fair 
seed habit. Tall oat grass downs country." (McKee.) 
Yitis Uliaefolia H.B.K. (Vltaceae.) 41707. Grape seed 
from Zacuapam, Vera Cruz, Mexico. Presented by Dr. C. A. 
Purpus. "This Vitls has a very sour fruit but It makes a 
most excellent jelly and is adapted to a tropical country; 
grows in sunny places in brush woods. Yitis vinifera cannot 
be raised here at. all." (Purpus.) 
NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENTS ABROAD. 
Miss Eliza J. Scidmore writes from Yokohama, Japan, April 
30, 1916. 
The wasabl I bought at a vegetable shop was not "as 
large" as my arm, but only "as long" as my arm, If you 
gather the difference. I demanded wasabi at one place and 
they had none. At the next shop, they lifted a plank in 
the floor and shook out of the loose earth a ,long, snaky 
root which I took home and tried. I did not know, until 
you wrote, that it was the foreign horseradish grown here 
from imported seed. It was white and very pungent, exactly 
(like) our own horseradish. The real wasabi, Japanese 
horseradish, is a spindling little root; seldom ten inches 
in length -- usually six inches. The flesh Is greenish, 
and it has equal pungency perhaps, but is bitter in the 
taste. It is no good, to my mind. The Japanese had better 
keep on growing the foreign kind of wasabi. Their own six- 
inch kind is smaller but costs about the same as the half, 
yard of foreign wasabi, and with Japanese dishes, raw fish 
and such, one gets the tiniest pinch of the greenish stuff, 
ground fine. 
