CHAPMAN FIELD: FROM TROPICAL PLANT INTRODUCTIONS TO CONSERVATION OF VALUABLE GENETIC STOCKS, THE ONE-TIME ARMY AIRFIELD IS ACENTEROFTROPICALAGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

摘要

Smitten by the flavors and romance of the tropics, Dr. David Fairchild finally found a home for his tropical introductions when a portion of the Victor Chapman Field Military Reservation was loaned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The World WarI Army airfield, which edges a portion of Old Cutler Road and was declared "surplus" by the federal government, became the primary site for tropical plant introductions into the U.S. The Subtropical Horticulture Research Station, as it is now known, overflows with evidence of Fairchild's work.Scarred and scabbed, the reddish-brown bark of the 81-year-old sausage tree, Kigelia africana, is worn round the trunk like a frayed old cape. Its accession number—PI 97849—indicates that David Fairchild himself collected it.