Till: iU.rsTRATIOX HORTICOLE. 



THE VILLA VIGIER, AT NICE. 



mt of the 



op of flowers, 

 noble speci- 



i There are two other somewhat smaller plants of the same 

 ! species of Phoenix in the garden, one male and the other 

 ! female, the latter annually giving issue to a numerous 



progeny. What struck us most in these majestic trees was 

 i the dense habit their spreading foliage has assumed under 

 | the influence of the Mediterranean sun, resembling more 

 | that of Jubcea spectabilis. Indeed, one no more recognised 



the Phoenix reclinata of our winter gardens. Its elegant 

 | airy foliage and padded, or rather webbed, stem give it 

 | a highly ornamental aspect. Possibly it will retain the 



closer, denser habit of the young state , and the numerous 

 I divisions of its enormous pinnate leaves may lengthen yet 

 I more with age. In any case, it is an extremely valuable 



acquisition for the Mediterranean climate , and in this respect 



very different from many other Palms which have by no 

 ! means turned out so well as they promised. 



Before leaving this group, we may mention a plant of 



P. pumila, five years old and a yard in diameter, with a 

 I spread of foliage nearly twenty-five feet. We strongly suspect 



this to be nothing more than a young plant of the preceding, 



Phoenix leonensis forms extremely handsome tufts here 

 of the female plant; but it did not mature its seed. The 

 head gardener, M. Cornelis, conceived the happy idea of 

 fertilising it with the pollen of P. reclinata, and the result 

 was fertile fruit , but with this peculiarity that it was double 

 the size of the normal fruit of P. leonensis and almost 

 exactly like that of P. reclinata. And what is still more 

 satisfactory, the young plants issuing from this cross shew 

 a much hardier constitution than those of natural descent. 

 One of the most beautiful plants in the garden is another 

 Phoenix which we found labeled humilis. It forms a tuft 

 with numerous leaves of a bright hue , curved downwards 

 to the ground in the most graceful manner imaginable, 

 giving it quite a distinct habit. At first, we thought it must 

 be Fulchironia senegalensis , but on closer examination it 

 appeared different. 



This beautiful plant annually produces fruit borne on 

 spadices of a splendid golden yellow, almost concealed 

 amongst the foliage. The fruit is about the size and shape 

 of a small olive, of a brilliant carmine tinged with orange, 

 and occurs in thousands, but hitherto no trace of an embryo 

 has been found in the seeds. 



W r e called M. Corneli's notice to the fact, that M. Durieu, 

 of Bordeaux, had obtained ovoid instead of reniform seeds 

 by fertilising a Chamaerops with a Phoenix; and we re- 

 quested him to reverse the operation by conveying pollen 

 of a Chamaerops, or even another Phoenix, to his plant 

 when the flowers are ready to receive it. This specimen is 

 so handsome in its regular symmatrical outline that the 

 Viscomte calls it his « Vegetable Firework „. 



The Chamaerops group is no less remarkable at Villa 

 Vigier. It is composed of a considerable number of species 

 and varieties, the nomenclature of which, however, is open 

 to criticism. W r e frankly confess at once, that we agree with 

 those who believe that Chamaerops is represented by a sol- 

 itary species only in China and Japan, with the exception, 

 perhaps of an extraordinary form of which we shall speak 



