48 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. PALMA. 
The wood of Washingtonia filamentosa is light and. soft, and contains numerous conspicuous 
dark orange-colored fibro-vascular bundles. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.5173, 
a cubic foot weighing 32.24 pounds. It contains a quantity of sugar; and the ashes, which amount to 
11.86 per cent. of the dry wood, contain 25 per cent. of salt." 
The fruit is gathered and used as food by the Indians, who also grind the seeds into flour.’ 
First cultivated by the Jesuit priests in their mission gardens of southern California long before 
this region became a part of the United States,’ Washingtonia filamentosa was noticed by the botanists 
connected with the commission intrusted with the establishment of the boundary between the United 
States and Mexico, but was not described until many years later. It has now become one of the 
commonest trees in the gardens and streets of the southwestern part of California, growing rapidly and 
vigorously there,’ as it does in southern Europe, where, in a comparatively short time, it has attained a 
large size and produced flowers and fruit,’ and also in Rio de Janeiro.° 
1 Trimble, Garden and Forest, ix. 133. 4 Garden and Forest, vi. 535, f. 77. 
2 Palmer, Am. Nat. xii. 598. 5 W. Watson, Garden and Forest, vii. 45.— André, Rev. Hort. 
3 Two specimens in San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, believed to 1895, 153, f. 40-42. 
_have been planted by the Jesuit missionaries, with stems nearly ® Nicholson, Garden and Forest, ii. 578. 
nine feet through at the ground, are estimated to be one hundred 
feet high. (See Kinney, Scientific American, lx. 263, f.) 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Puate DIX. WaAsHINGTONIA FILAMENTOSA. 
A branch of a flowering spadix, natural size. 
Diagram of a flower. 
A flower, enlarged. 
Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 
. A stamen, enlarged. 
anak Ob 
. Portion of a corolla laid open, showing the glands at the 
base of the petals, enlarged. 
. Portion of a fruiting spadix, natural size. 
. A fruit divided transversely, enlarged. 
© 0 9 
Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 
10. A seed, basal view, enlarged. 
11. An embryo, much magnified. 
12. A leaf, upper side, much reduced. 
13. Portion of a leaf-stalk, somewhat reduced. 
