June 1, 1907. 



HORTICULTURE 



713 



Oreodoxas 



Linnaeus said : "Palms are the princes of the Vege- 

 table Kingdom." Very soon after a person reaches the 

 tropics he realizes the truth of this great statement, 



Avenue o£ Royal Palms— Oreodoxa regia. 



made so many years ago by this wonderful man, the 

 father of botanists and greatest of classifiers. There 

 are two men that I always like to pay homage to and 

 these are Linnaeus and Columbus. Linnaeus had a 

 terribly hard strugle in his early life. My friend, 

 Blomberg, did not tell us enough about his great 

 countryniiin. I also thank Horticulture for giving 

 us this timely article on this great man who made this 

 world more pleasant to live in. 



Often when on the briny deep I have thought of 

 Columbus and the monstrous difficulties he had to en- 

 counter when trying to discover this great country. We 

 are under great "obligations to these great men and few 

 of us realize what they have done for us. We do not 

 give enough credit to those great pioneers. We hear 

 much aboiit raising monuments to poets, historians and 

 such like men in our parks and gardens in this country, 

 but very few monuments have been built to this great 

 naturalist. 



I am not a lover or yet a believer in monuments 

 in our fine parks and boulevards or yet in our public 

 gardens. Yet if any man deserves such a memorial in 

 any of the above places it is Linnaeus. 



I must return to my subject and I still agree with 

 Linnaeus that palms are not only the princes of the 

 vegetable kingdom but to man in the tropics they are 

 certainlv the most useful plants and supply almost all 

 his wants. 



In the very largest greenhouses that are built palms 

 are not seen 'and cannot be expected to appear as they 

 do in their native wilds, as some of these plants reach 

 or attain more than one hundred feet in height. 



In the West Indies the Oreodoxas are wonderfully 

 plentiful and in some parts of the islands they are the 

 most interesting plants in the landscape. 



Six species of Oreodoxa are Imown to science. The 



most common and tiie most plentiful are the royal 

 palm (Oreodoxa regia) and the cabbage palm (Oreo- 

 doxa oleracea). 



Probably in no part of the West Indies or in South 

 America are to be seen so many of the royal palm, or 

 as the Cubans call it "Palma real," as in Cuba. A 

 person riding on the train from Santiago de Cuba to 

 Havana passes through immense forests of this pic- 

 turesque palm. The habit of the royal palm is very 

 graceful and exceptionally striking in the landscape. 

 We have nothing in our northern forests that will 

 compare in habit with this singularly beautiful palm, 

 when it is seen growing in the very best conditions. 

 Not only is this palm to be found in the forests^ and 

 fields, but in every small town and city it is associated 

 with the buildings. In Cuba for long avenues this tree 

 is used more than any other. In riding on the train 

 from the centre of Cuba to Havana one can see perfect 

 avenues miles in length of this graceful palm. 



The picture which accompanies this article graphi- 

 cally represents the spacious avenues which this im- 

 perial palm makes in Cuba. An avenue like this one 

 when once seen makes an impression that can never be 

 erased from the memory. Not only for avenues is the 

 royal palm used but in the parks and plazas they are 

 superbly beautiful when placed in right positions. 



This "Oreodoxa does not make a good pot plant nor 

 is it as pretty in a young state when planted out. 

 Given perfect condition in ten or fifteen years it makes 

 a handsome specimen. 



Palma real is used by the Cubans in many othei* 

 ways. The huts or houses of the poorer classes in the 

 country are made almost entirely from this palm. The 

 sheathing base of the leaves is used for the sides or the 

 walls of the houses and tlie other portions of the leaves 

 are used for thatching the roof. In fact I have seen 

 liouses where every part of the building was made from 

 this palm. The leaves are also made into coarse mat- 

 ting and into baskets. The fruits or nuts are used 

 for feeding hogs and cattle. 



This palm grows in certain localities in Florida, 

 chieflv at "Little and Big Palm Hummocks," east of 

 Cape Romano and also on Elliott's Key. 



l3^i';^"*V,JS.'>^ ' ■*»^assfe»«.^ 



Cabbage Palms— Oreoaoxa oleracea. 



The cabbage palm (Oreodoxa oleracea) is just as 

 beautiful a plant as the above species but cannot be 

 seen in perfection until one goes further south to the 



