178 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 
stakes closely around them but they climbed up and got over, I 
made them higher but they tunnelled under like Andersonville 
prisoners. I put barrels with both heads knocked out over them, 
thinking that if they didn’t see the plants they wouldn’t be 
tempted but I learned that a land crab doesn’t need temptation 
to lead him into evil: they tunnelled under and came up inside 
just the same. I have two plants left for which I have hope but 
not confidence. This plant ought to do well in low ground in 
lower Florida that is free from crabs and it is certainly a superb 
ornamental. 
Oxalis. There are a number of species in this genus and some 
of them are quite ornamental. Several of them ought to do well 
in the cooler part of the state but they have not entirely succeeded 
with me. Those that grow well are shy bloomers. 
Panax. Ornamental leaved plants, sometimes half shrubby, a 
number of which do well in the warmer part of Florida: They 
generally have delicate, often cut leaves, sometimes like those of 
ferns. P.aureum has leaves with yellow and greenish markings; 
P. victoriae is marked with green and white; P. plumatum and 
P. excelsum have fern-like foliage. They are all tender and, I 
think, do better with shelter and a little shade. 
Pandanus, Screw Pine. I write the name Pandanus with a 
good deal of satisfaction for the genus is a superb one and com- 
pletely at home in the more tropical part of the state. This is 
especially true of the limestone region of Dade County. They 
are all natives of the tropics, mostly the Malay Archipelago. 
They have long, folded leaves which are generally spinose, and 
they are arranged along the stems in spirals. P. baptisti forms 
immense clusters and has long spineless leaves which are ele- 
gantly striped with yellowish. JI have in my back yard a plant 
fifteen feet high and thirty feet across that has never had any 
fertilizer or care, this in ordinary pine land. It resembles a 
gigantic clump of ribbon grass. P. sanderi does finely here and 
holds its coloring better than P. veitchi. P. candelabrum, the 
striped variety, is fine but tender. P. odoratissimus has slender, 
recurved leaves and fragrant flowers. P. utilis forms such a 
trunk that it is tree-like and makes one of the most striking 
plants we grow, its immense heads of seed being seven or eight 
