iS 97 . 



GARDENING. 



213 



THE GREAT FAN PALM OF CEYLON IN BLOOM. 



Tropical Vegetation. 



THE GREAT FAN PALM OF CEYLON. 



(Corypha umbraculifera). 



This is one of the noblest of the royal 

 family of palms. In Ceylon, where it 

 abounds, it is called "Tallipot." On the 

 MalabarCoast it is "Codda-pana." Itis 

 also known as "Basket Palm" and "Shree 

 talum." 



This palm is one of those marvels of the 

 vegetable world which gather their 

 strength and beauty through many years 

 of growth for one supreme effort of bloom- 

 ing and then die. For the first thirty 

 years of its life the great Fan Palm 

 scarcely begins to develop a trunk though 

 they afterwards attain agreat height. In 

 Ceylon the stems grow very straight and 

 become as tall (Knox says) as the mast 

 of a ship. The leaves are immense fans, 

 twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide, 

 composed of many segments with a 

 thread between. 



Like those of many other palms these 

 leaves are put to a variety of uses by the 

 Cingalese. It is indeed almost incredible 

 to people of the temperate zones how 

 many of the needs of tropical life are sup- 

 plied by palms and palm products, A. 

 Tamil poem of South Hindostan enum- 



erates 801 uses of the Palmyra palm 

 (Borassus flabelliformis). The Cocoa 

 palm is said to have 365 uses — one for 

 every day in the year. The Great Fan 

 palm in Ceylon is of the widest utility. 

 Its leaves when dried are very strong and 

 flexible and though very broad can be 

 folded up into the size of a man's arm. 

 The natives cut these leaves into triangu- 

 lar pieces for use; these the} 7 place on their 

 heads, narrow end foremost, to make 

 their way through thickets. Soldiers all 

 carry sections of leaves to shade them 

 from the sun, to keep them dry in case of 

 rain and to make their tents at night. 



In the center of the trunk is a pith 

 which they beat into flour in a mortar 

 and bake into cakes which taste much 

 like white bread. The leaves are also used 

 for roofing their houses and for writing on 

 iron stylus. According to Loudon many 

 of the books which are shown in Euro- 

 pean museums and libraries for the Egyp- 

 tian pap3'rus are made from the leaves of 

 this palm. Another corypha growing 

 in northern India is of great use for roof- 

 ing houses and other purposes. 



When the Great Fan palm has reached 

 the point of blooming it puts forth a vast 

 tree-like panicle thirty feet high of beauti- 

 ful yellow flowers, but so ill-smelling that 

 blooming trees are frequently cut down 

 when near dwellings. The fruit is about 

 the size of a large cherry, not edible but 



produced in such abundance that one 

 palm tree will give seed enough for a 

 country. The fruit takes 14 months to 

 ripen, after which the tree dies. 



The illustration represents this palm in 

 bloom, but in the absence of anything by 

 which to gauge its size it hardly gives an 

 adequate idea of the great magnitude of 

 the flower spike. John Higgins. 



The Flower Garden. 



SPECIMEN PLANTS ON THE LAWN. 



Bocconia cordata or Japonica is of 

 rather tall growth, 6 to 9 feet, and has 

 remarkable ornamental foliage of a glau- 

 cous green, broad and roundish in outline 

 with deeply lobed and undulated edges, 

 prominently veined, very effective in gen- 

 eral appearance Its growth is upright 

 and the stout canes are well furnished 

 with the handsome foliage; the small 

 flowers are produced in large terminal 

 panicles, buff yellow in color and are 

 ornamental as well as very graceful. The 

 plant is often grown in the border and 

 there is apt to take up considerable space 

 after a few years if not checked, it suckers 

 so persistently; on the lawn, the superflu- 

 ous suckers should be removed annually, 

 leaving the main chimp undisturbed. 



Bambusa Metake is sometimes used as 

 a lawn plant, but requires several seasons 

 to get well established unless we have a 

 carefully lifted strong clump to start 

 with; compact growth and gracelul habit 

 are characteristics of this charming bam- 

 boo-like plant; 3 to 5 ieet is as high as I 

 have seen it out doors, though when 

 grown in a greenhouse its height is in- 

 creased. 



Eebinops eommutatus is a very tall 

 growing species with roughly dissected 

 large spiny leaves, thickly covered with 

 bristly hair on the upper side. It attains 

 a height of over 6 feet and has a bold ap- 

 pearance as a single plant; flowerheads 

 are large and perfectly round, whitish in 

 color and appear during July or August. 

 E. Ritro, with bluish flowers of same 

 shape, is a much smaller plant but equally 

 effective. The leaves are veined promi- 

 nently on the upper sideand covered with 

 a down beneath, not spinv, height about 

 3 feet. 



Eryngium giganteum has large heart- 

 shaped substantial foliage, deeply ser- 

 rated along the edges, blue globose flower 

 heads, surrounded by large bracts and is 

 a very ornamental plant of bold appear- 

 ance, well suited for a permanent position 

 in the lawn; it grows to a height of about 

 31/2 to 4 feet. 



A clump of Cephalaria tartarica looks 

 well as an isolated subject on the lawn. 

 When well established and full grown it 

 will be 5 or 6 feet high with abundant 

 foliage, which is of good size and pinnate 

 on rather long petioles. The large glob- 

 ular flower heads are sulphur yellow in 

 color, and in shape resemble those of a 

 "gigantic scabiosa. They last a long time 

 in perfection and are very ornamental 

 and interesting. 



Clematis recta forms a symmetrical 

 rounded compact bush, the dark green 

 foliage retaining its color until late in fall 

 and during June and July it is literally 

 covered with fragrant white flowers 

 borne in long, branchy panicles at the 

 ends of the stems; 4 to 4V2 feet is the 

 height of old well established clumps. 



Dictamnus fraxinella, a popular hardy 

 plant with stiff leathery pinnate leaves, 

 requires age before it makes any show on 



