106 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 
found on the lower keys. It has small, one-sided leaflets and 
pretty blue flowers, and with me has grown slowly in hammock. 
Amyris elemifera, Torchwood. A delicately beautiful little 
tropical tree which inhabits only the lower end of the state, with 
trifoliate leaves and hard, resinous wood. It is found in ham- 
mocks and would probably do best in rich ground in partial 
shade. 
Simaruba glauca. This is one of the Quassia trees, its bark 
and wood being intensely bitter. It grows in the United States 
only along the southeast coast and keys. The glossy pinnate 
leaves are very handsome, hence it is called Paradise Tree. 
When planted in good soil where there is little frost it does well. 
Bursera simaruba, commonly called Gumbo Limbo or West 
Indian Birch. This is one of the most striking trees of lower 
Florida, and is abundant everywhere in hammocks. Its tall, 
usually branchless and crooked trunk bears a few tortuous 
branches at the top; the whole covered with smooth, shining, 
copper colored bark. This continually peels off like that of a 
birch. The compound leaves are glossy but not especially 
attractive and are deciduous in winter or spring. Occasionally 
a tree has silvery or variegated bark, and the trunk is always 
conspicuous and striking. Large stems driven in the ground will 
root and grow in pine or hammock. It furnishes the Gum Elemi 
of druggists. 
Swietenia mahagoni, or Mahogany, grows on the extreme 
southern mainland and the lower keys in considerable quantity. 
In the American Tropics and especially Honduras this tree 
grows to a large size. It is generally a crooked tree, the leaves 
are pinnate, glossy, and the leaflets are one-sided. The large, 
obovate seed vessels are striking and the tree is attractive and 
well worthy of cultivation. It will grow in all soils from brackish 
marsh to pine land. 
Drypetes keyensis and D. lateriflora are attractive trees with 
thick, glossy leaves; the former has ivory white fruit and that of 
the latter isred. They are both tropical. 
Ilex opaca, Holly, grows south to Mosquito Inlet and Char- 
lotte Harbor and is too well known to need comment. It will 
probably succeed over most of the state in good soil. 
