12 CIECULAE NO. 113, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



The palmettos planted for ornament in San Antonio and other 

 plaees in southern Texas were at first supposed to represent the 

 native Texan palmetto. They have broad leaf segments like Inodes 

 texana, instead of narrow segments like the well-known cabbage pal- 

 metto of Florida {Inodes palmetto), of which only a few specimens 

 have been seen in Texas. The Texan palmetto is a handsome palm 

 and is used for ornamental purposes in a few places in the region of 

 Brownsville, but it now appears that other species are represented 

 among the cultivated palmettos. This was learned recently at 

 Victoria, Tex., where one of the cultivated palms was found with an 

 abundant crop of fruit. The thickened terminal branchlets of the 

 inflorescence showed at once that it could not be the Texan palmetto, 

 which has slender branchlets. 



Some of the Victoria palmettos are really magnificent, with their 

 stately crowns of large vivid-green leaves firmly supported on massive 

 petioles, also of living green. Even the trunk appears green, for the 

 sheathing leaf bases retain their color. The crown is more ample 

 than in most palms because of the firm texture and persistent vitality 

 of the leaves. This lends an impression of extreme vigor and luxu- 

 riance and adds greatly to the decorative effect. In short, it seems 

 not unlikely that the Victoria palmetto may find a place in the front 

 rank of ornamental species. 



Inquiries regarding the origin of the palmettos at Victoria revealed 

 a local opinion that they had been brought from California, and this 

 may indicate that the stock came originally from Mexico. There are 

 no native palmettos in California. Many introduced species are 

 grown in collections, though they do not seem to thrive very well in 

 places near the coast, probably because of insufficient heat. 



At first it seemed likely that the Victoria palmetto might be 

 referred to a species with thickened branchlets, Inodes uresana 

 Trelease, from the vicinity of the town of Ures in Sonora. 1 But 

 there are several features that seem to forbid such an identification. 

 The leaves of Inodes uresana are described as extremely glaucous, to 

 such an extent that Prof. Trelease compared it with the so-called 

 "blue palm" (Erythea armata), noted for its very light grayish or 

 bluish color. This characteristic does not appear in the Victoria 

 palm, the foliage of which is of a deep, vivid green, as far from 

 glaucous as could well be imagined. 



To judge from the photographic illustration of Inodes uresana, the 

 leaves have a more strongly decurved rachis and more deeply sepa- 

 rated, narrower segments. The measurements given for the Sonora n 

 species likewise indicate a smaller palm. The trunk is said to be 30 

 centimeters thick, the petiole 2 centimeters wide, and the blade 1 



i Trelease, W. A Pacific-slope palmetto. Missouri Botanical Garden Keport, v. 2, p. 79, pi. 35-37, 1901. 

 [Cfr. 113] 



