126 : ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 
are beautiful palms, generally of dwarf size, which grow in the hot, 
steamy forests of the Oriental Tropics. 
Livistona is a fine genus of palms from the same general region 
as Licuala, but I have had much better success with it. JL. 
chinensis, commonly called Latania borbonica, is a beautiful, 
slow growing species, quite hardy. L. altissima, L. hoogendorpi, 
L. subglobosa, L. jenkinsiana, L. olivaeformis and L. mariae have 
all done well with me. JL. rotundifolia is a charming species. 
All except the first are probably tender. 
Lodoicea seychellarum is the celebrated Coco de Mer, or 
Double Coconut, from the Seychelles. It is a wonderful tree 
with a trunk a foot in diameter and a hundred feet high; the fan- 
shaped leaves are twelve feet long and twenty wide. It does 
not bear fruit until it is thirty years old; the nuts weigh forty 
pounds each and require ten years to ripen. The base of the 
tree is rounded and fits into a natural bowl which is filled with 
holes through which the roots pass. This bowl is a part of the 
tree but is not attached to it and it has been found in a good state 
of preservation sixty years after the tree has died. The nuts 
require a long time to germinate but they have been sprouted 
and are growing at Washington. They should be tried in lower 
Florida. 
Mauritia. A genus of half a dozen species of lofty palms from 
the lower West Indies and South America. I do not think that 
they have been cultivated to any extent in Florida but they 
should be tried. 
Pritchardia. The species of this genus vie with those of Latania 
in beauty and majesty but, unfortunately, theyare all very tender 
and can only be grown successfully in practically frostless sit- 
uations. I have had P. marti, P. pacifica, P. thurstoni and one 
or two others and all of them have been injured repeatedly. 
Rhapis flabelliformis and humilis are elegant, tufted, reed-like 
palms from China and Japan, both quite hardy but slow of 
growth. Both are doing finely for me in shade in the edge of the 
hammock; the latter is making the better growth. Most elegant 
effects might be produced by planting these in masses, especially 
along the banks of pools or lakes. 
Thrinax is a genus of very beautiful and useful palms for the 
