INVENTORY. 39682 to 39690. From Sibpur, near Calcutta, India. Presented by Mr. C. C. Calder, Royal "Collected on the eastern Himalayas." (Calder.) 39682. CREPIS JAPONICA (L.) Bentham. A common eastern Asiatic herb. 39683. POGOSTEMON FRATERNUS Miquel. Cichoriaceæ. Menthaceæ. Distribution. An herbaceous perennial related to patchouli and belonging to the mint family, found at an altitude of 3,000 to 5,000 feet in the Sikkim Himalayas in India and in Java. 39684. BLUMEA MYRIOCEPHALA DC. Asteracer. Distribution.-A composite shrub with leaves 6 to 10 inches long and small heads of flowers in a pyramidal panicle; found in the Sikkim Himalayas in India. 39685. MARSDENIA TENACISSIMA (Roxb.) Wight and Arnott. Asclepiadaceæ. A climbing plant distributed throughout the lower Himalayas, ascending to 5,000 feet, from Kumaon to Assam and Burma. The plant is fond of dry, barren localities, twining on the bushes and small trees. The bark of the stems yields a large quantity of beautiful fine silky fiber, which is extracted by cutting the stems into sections and then scraping them clean with the finger nails or with a stick. The mountaineers of Rajmahal make their bowstrings from this fiber, because of its strength and durability. In Dr. Roxburgh's tests of twine made from this fiber, he found that in the dry and wet states it bore a strain of 248 and 343 pounds, when hemp in the same state bore 158 and 190 pounds. More recent tests, however, place it below hemp in strength, but above it in elasticity. The fiber is much used in making fishing nets, and is not liable to injury by submersion in water. One of the chief characteristics of this fiber is its elasticity, and it is considered to be the second best fiber in India. This species, though producing a good fiber, is not in general cultivation, being a climber; difficulties exist with which the Indian cultivator has not yet attempted to deal. A milky juice exudes from the cuts on the stems which thickens into an elastic substance, which acts in the same way as India rubber in removing black-lead marks. (Adapted from Watt, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, and C. R. Dodge, Useful Fiber Plants of the World.) 39686. CARYOPTERIS PANICULATA C. B. Clarke. Verbenaceæ. "A spreading shrub, from Upper Burma; branches terete, slender, pubescent. Leaves mostly obtuse or rounded at the base. Panicles axillary, subsessile one-half to 2 inches, distinctly panicled, rachis dis 39682 to 39690-Continued. tinct, often 20 to 60 flowered. Corolla pubescent, deep red." (Hooker, Flora of British India, vol. 4, p. 597.) Of similar value perhaps to C. mastacanthus. Distribution.—A stout, handsome, asclepiadaceous climber with orbicular leaves and umbels of cream-colored flowers, found up to an altitude of 3,000 feet in the Himalayas of Sikkim and Assam, in India, and succeeding under the same treatment as H. carnosa. 39688. TRIUMFETTA PILOSA Roth. Tiliaceæ. Burweed. An herbaceous hairy or bristly tropical weed with yellow flowers in dense cymes. 39689. ERIANTHUS RUFIPILUS (Steud.) Griseb. Poaceæ. (Erianthus fulvus Nees.) "A perennial grass found in the temperate Himalayas at altitudes of 5,000 to 7,000 feet. Stems 6 to 8 feet high, silky hairy just above the panicle. The leaves are 2 to 3 feet long and one-fourth inch to 1 inch wide, slightly rough and with the margins of the sheath hairy. Panicle 8 to 18 inches, grey white or tinged with purple. Spikelets about onetenth inch long with the basal hairs 3 to 4 times as long as the spikelets." (Collett, Flora Simlensis.) Introduced for the work of the Office of Forage-Crop Investigations. 39690. NEYRAUDIA MADAGASCARIENSIS (Kunth) Hook. f. Poaceæ. "A species found on the plains of north India, ascending to 5,000 feet, throughout tropical Asia and Africa and Madagascar. A perennial grass with leafy, solid stem 6 to 10 feet high. The leaves are flat, 1 or 2 feet long and up to 1 inch wide, with base clasping the stem. Ligule very short and hairy. Spikelets purple-brown, narrow, slightly flattened, one-fourth to one-third inch long. 4 to 8 flowered (flowers all fertile except sometimes the uppermost), in a shining, silky erect panicle 1 to 3 feet long. The branches are in half whorls and more or less spreading." (Collett, Flora Simlensis.) 39691 to 39693. TAMARIX SPP. Tamaricaceæ. Tamarisk. From Caucasus, Russia. Presented by the Tiflis Botanic Garden. Received January 7, 1915. 39691. TAMARIX HOHENACKERI Bunge. 39692. TAMARIX PENTANDRA Pallas. "This shrub or small tree is one of the most decorative tamarisks in cultivation, flowering in great profusion in July and August. In the wild state it ranges from the Balkan Peninsula through southern Russia to Turkestan, and from Asia Minor to Persia, adorning the banks of rivers, particularly in their lower reaches and estuaries. Like other species of this genus, it thrives well in saline soils, but is by no means dependent on a more than ordinary amount of salts in the ground. The flowers are usually rose-colored, but sometimes white or nearly so." (Botanical Magazine, pl. 8138.) 39693. TAMARIX SP. 39694 to 39697. From Nanking, China. Presented by Rev. Joseph Bailie, University of Nanking. Received January 7, 1915. 39698. DIOSPYROS EBENASTER Retz. Diospyraceæ. Black sapote. From Santa Fe, Isle of Pines. Presented by Mr. H. S. Jones. Cuttings received January 18, 1915. See S. P. I. No. 39719 for description. 39699 and 39700. CITRUS spp. Rutaceæ. From Catania, Italy. Presented by Mr. Joseph E. Haven, American consul, Received January 16, 1915. 39699. 39700. CITRUS BERGAMIA Risso. CITRUS AURANTIUM L. Bergamot orange. "To the bitter orange plant is grafted the bud wood of the Bergamot orange, as Bergamot oranges do not grow from a Bergamot seed." (Haven.) 39701. OPHIOPOGON JAPONICUS (L.) Ker. Liliaceæ. Grown at the Plant Introduction Field Station, Rockville, Md. "A small evergreen plant, with grasslike leaves, growing to a height of 3 to 6 inches and bearing racemes of small white flowers followed by pale-blue berries. Much used in Italy as a ground cover in the shade of trees where grass will not grow." (Peter Bisset.) 39702 to 39705. DIOSCOREA spp. Dioscoreaceæ. Yam. From Guam. Presented by the Experimental Station of Guam, through Mr. W. E. Safford, of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Received January 13, 1915. For a general discussion of the yams of Guam, see W. E. Safford, Useful Plants of Guam, pages 257 to 263, 1905. 39702. Nika. 39703. Nika cimarron. 39706. RHUs sp. Anacardiaceæ. 39704. Dago agaga. (Red yam.) 39705. Dago hava. (Southern yam.) From Nanking, China. Presented by Rev. Joseph Bailie, University of Nanking. Received January 7, 1915. Cha lu kou. 39707. ALEURITES FORDII Hemsl. Euphorbiaceæ. Tung tree. From Foley, Ala. Purchased from Mr. J. L. Sebastian. Received January 9, 1915. Seed from S. P. I. No. 21013, sent him ir February, 1908. 39708. VANILLA sp. Orchidaceæ. Vanilla. From Tampico, Mexico. Presented by Mr. Thomas H. Bevan. Cutting received January 12, 1915. 39709. DURIO ZIBETHINUS Murr. Bombacaceæ. Durian, From Buitenzorg, Java. Presented by the director, Botanic Garden. ceived January 11, 1915. Re See S. P. I. Nos. 28082, 34072, and 37103 for previous introductions. "A very large, handsome, pyramid-shaped tree, native of the Malayan Archipelago and commonly cultivated in the Straits, Burma, Java, etc., for the sake of its celebrated fruit. The latter is produced on the older branches, varies somewhat from round to oval in shape, and usually weighs from 5 to 7 pounds or more. It is armed with thickly set, formidable prickles about one-half inch long; when ripe it becomes slightly yellow and possesses an odor which is intensely offensive to most people, especially on first acquaintance with it. The cream-colored pulp surrounding the seed is the edible portion; this is most highly prized by the Malays and other oriental people, and is also relished by Europeans who acquire a taste for it. Firminger describes it as 'resembling blancmange, delicious as the finest cream,' while Mr. Russel Wallace considered that 'eating durians is a sensation worth a voyage to the East.' The large seeds may be roasted and eaten like chestnuts. Pounded into flour they are said to be sometimes made into a substance like 'vegetable ivory.' The durian tree thrives in the moist low country of Ceylon up to 2,000 feet elevation and luxuriates in deep alluvial or loamy soil. In Peradeniya Gardens there are magnificent specimens well over 100 feet in height. They usually flower in March or April, and the fruit is ripe in July or August. Durian fruits are variable in size, shape, flavour, and quantity of pulp, according to variety. The trees also vary in productiveness, some varieties being almost barren. Selection and high cultivation should therefore be practiced in order to obtain the best fruits. The tree is readily propagated by seed if sown fresh; the seed is of short vitality and germinates in 7 to 8 days." (Macmillan, Handbook of Tropical Gardening and Planting, p. 142.) 39710. QUERCUS SUBER L. Fagaceæ. Cork oak. From Gibraltar, Spain. Procured through Mr. Richard L. Sprague, American consul. Received January 4, 1915. "Spanish cork oak acorns gathered in the cork woods near Alpandiere and Gaucin station, Province of Malaga, 45 miles north of Gibraltar. These acorns are of fine quality." (Sprague.) See S. P. I. No. 36925 for previous introduction. 39711. CHENOPODIUM BONUS-HENRICUS L. Chenopodiaceæ. Good King Henry. From Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. Purchased from Pennell & Sons. Received January 2, 1915. For experimental use as greens; not for distribution. |