969 
al Department is carrying on certain breeding experiments 
with potatoes and these resistant wild strains may prove 
useful for this purpose. These tubers were gathered on 
very heavy clay soil, from a piece of land which is com- 
pletely water-soaked during at least three months in a year 
and extremely dry for about seven or eight months in suc- 
cession. The tubers possess, therefore, certain resistant 
properties which it may be found useful to impart to the 
cultivated varlties in the States." (Schultz.) 
Styrax hookeri C.B. Clarke. ( Styracaceae . ) 41815. Seeds 
from Darjeeling, India. Presented by Mr. G. H. Cave, Lloyd 
Botanic Gardens. "Tnis 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.) In- 
asmuch as Styrax japonica ranks as one of the most beautiful 
of all flowering shrubs or small trees and is perfectly 
hardy In the Atlantic States and easy to grow from seed it 
is suggested that the getting together of all the species 
of this genus which bear attractive flowers and their hybrid- 
ization might lead to practical results. (Falrchild.) 
Thelepogon elegans Roth. (Poaceae.) 41918. Seeds from 
Kirkee, India. Presented by Mr. William Burns, Economic 
Botanist. "A coarse perennial grass with stems one to 
three feet high, usually woody at base. When growing in 
rice fields it is difficult to distinguish until in flower. 
Cattle and horses eat the herbage when it is young and in 
some parts of Central Province the seeds are used as human 
food. Native to India and Africa." (C. V. Piper.) 
Tricholaena rosea Nees. (Poaceae.) 41921. Seeds from 
Kirkee, India. Presented by Mr. William Burns, Economic 
Botanist. "When a single plant of Natal grass is allowed 
abundant room it will form a large tuft, sometimes 3 to 4 
feet in diameter, the lower branches soon becoming de- 
cumbent, while the 'central stems are more nearly erect. 
The stems are slender, 3 to 4 feet high, and well covered 
with leaves, which are so nearly erect that few are lost 
in mowing the hay. The seeds are produced in large clusters 
of about the size and shape of a panicle of oats. In most 
cases the seed clusters are bright red or rosy crimson in 
color, and for that reason the grass has sometimes been 
called 'redtop'. It is, however, very different from the 
common northern grass known as redtop. The name 'Natal 
grass,' which indicates the country of which it is a 
native, is more appropriate and distinctive and is the one 
now in most common use. The plants are killed by a single 
plowing, and by keeping the land cultivated in other crops 
through the whole of a single season all the seeds in the 
