PALMS POE SMALL PLANT-HOUSES. 



BY A PrvACTICAL HAND IS THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



|P I were only going to grow three palms, I should select 

 Latania rithra, a Calamus, and a Chamcedorea. This 

 Latania is a magnificent plant, with fan-shaped leaves, 

 the petioles and ribs of the leaves of a crimson or deep 

 rosy colour. It must be kept in mind that they vary a 

 good deal in this colouring, and if I were buying a plant I should 

 take care and go to the nursery and select the plant which pleased 

 me best. Latania au7^ea is in the same way, but yellow instead of 

 red. I have never yet seen a specimen of either of these species with 

 a stem ; there is, therefore, not much fear of its becoming too large 

 very soon. Besides, if it should ever grow too large for the space at 

 your command, any nurseryman would take it, and give you in ex- 

 change something which would suit you better. I should say that 

 any jjerson might buy a young plant, and after having had the plea- 

 sure of growing it for eight or ten years, find that it would be worth 

 something good in t\\e way of exchange. 



All the species of ChamsBdorea are graceful, elegant, and not 

 likely soon to overgrow themselves ; in fact, few of them attain a 

 height of more than ten or twelve feet. G. elegans, with a thin stem 

 crowned with a tuft of gracefully drooping pinnate leaves, is a perfect 

 model of all that one could admire. G. graminifolia is equally beau- 

 tiful, the divisions of the leaves long, grass-like, drooping. C. Er- 

 nesti-Augusti has broader divisions of the leaves, without the inclina- 

 tion to droop. The inflorescence of this and some other species adds 

 very much to the attraction of the plant. One might easily give the 

 names of some eight or ten more kinds of Chamsedorea which would 

 be equally valuable as decorative plants. 



Several kinds of Calamus are as well suited to our purpose. 

 They are small in growth, with pretty drooping pinnate leaves, the 

 petioles and stems of many kinds covered with black shining spines 

 which add not a little to their beauty. The Calami are all natives of 

 the eastern hemisphere, i^frica, and the East Indian Islands; while 

 all the species of Charasedorea come from tropical America. Calamus 

 Verschaffelti is a newly introduced species from Madagascar, the narrow 

 leaflets of which are somewhat silvery beneath, the stem brownish, 

 with long slender spines pointing backwards. 



Those of which I have spoken are all stove plants, and I ought to 

 have added Aveca lutescens, a very gracefully habited plant, to the 

 list ; but the fact is, one might go on through a dozen pages describing 

 palms, every one of which is perfectly beautiful ; but one must make 

 a sudden pull up somewhere. I am ashamed of myself that I have 

 said nothing of Bactris, Geratolobus, Geonoma, Licuala, Thrinax, and 

 other genera ; hut start with a few good species first, and if you 

 want any more, write and say so, and you shall have a select list of 

 another dozen or two. If I leave off here, you may think there are 

 no palms but those requiring stove heat. This would be a great 



