IRISH GARDENING 



\OLUMt: VII. 

 No. 75 



A MONTHLY jOrKN.M, DEVOTED TO IHE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



MAV 

 1912 



Cordylines tor Irish Gardens. 



By Till-: ICnimu. 



Mr C H confusion exists in 

 tfardens witii rei,''arci to 

 the two genera, Cordyline 

 aiul Dracivna, but it is quite easily 

 understood, for they 3re certainly 

 very much alike — in fact the main 

 difterence exists in the fruits. Hoth 

 h.i\e three-celled ovaries, but the 

 L'ordyline has many ovules in each 

 cell, whereas the Drac;ena usually 

 has only one ovule ; also the flowers 

 of the latter are usuallj' larger. 



These plants are interesting bo- 

 tanically in that they rank among 

 the most gigantic of the Lilv order, 

 and they share with the \'uccas the 

 distinction of being among the few 

 monocotyledons which have a con- 

 tinued growth in thickness of the 

 stem, this being due to the formation 

 of successive cylinders of meristem in 

 the fundamental tissue, within which 

 \ ascular bundles are developed. 

 The common Cordyline australis 

 is far hardier than is usually supposed, and 

 will stand 20 degrees Fahrenheit of frost with- 

 out injurv when established. In the People's 

 Garden at Fhienix Park some fine old speci- 

 mens have stood for many years without 

 protection, standing out boldly by the lakeside. 

 ^ . l-'ven in the centre of Dublin, in St. Stephen's 

 P^ Clreen Park, it stands the smoke and grime 

 j^. of the town without injury, proving its adapta- 

 C~.' bility as a town plant. Wherever conditions 

 CC are in any way favourable there are few plants 

 grown in the open groiuid which are more 



effective than this Club Palm. When possible 

 a sheltered position should be chosen, althou'-'h 

 in some West of Ireland gardens it braves the 

 gusts from the .Atlantic. 



When well established the tall, straight stem 

 advances about a foot each year in height, 

 and on the top of the stem is the crown of 

 strap-shaped leaves ; when the flowering age 

 is reached the stem usually branches and forms 

 a head. Although attractive at all seasons of 

 the year, yet the Club Palm is most graceful 

 when covered with its large-branched panicles, 

 often two or three feet across, of small fragrant 

 white flowers, and the attraction is scarcely 

 lessened when the panicles become drooping 

 from the weight of myriads of the milky 

 white seeds. The photograph shows an ex- 

 tremely good specimen in flower growing in 

 Captain Riall's garden at Bray. It was 

 planted by Captain Riall's father about thirty- 

 four years ago, and is now about thirtv feet 

 high, with a finely-branched head, and some- 

 times bears as many as three dozen heads of 

 bloom. 



In Colenso's botanical journeys to the North 

 Island of New Zealand he mentions a large 

 specimen in tlie trunk o( which a Maori hail 

 constructed a small room in which to keep his 

 basket and tools. It was fitted with a door, 

 and sufficiently high to allow a man to stand 

 upright in it ; the tree was living, and was 

 twenty feet in girth at the base. C. australis 

 is said to be distributed in New Zealand from 

 the Xorth Cape district to Stewart Island, 

 being most abundant in lowland situations, but 

 ascending to 2,500 feel. The leaves afford a 



