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 arid 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 

 gro\vs 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. 



Dry petes keyensis and D. lateriflora are attractive trees with 

 thick, glossy leaves ; the former has ivory white fruit and that of 

 the latter is red. 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. 



