IN FLORIDA 123 



send up suckers in abundance which may be carefully re- 

 moved and used for propagation. Professor H. Nehrling has a 

 most excellent article on the date palms in Florida in Bailey's 

 "Encyclopedia of Horticulture." 



Pinanga. A genus of usually slender-stemmed palms some of 

 which send up suckers quite freely. They are from the Malayan 

 region and are therefore tender. Two or three species have been 

 cultivated in the warmer parts of the state and it is probable 

 that they will do best in partial shade. 



Ptychospermas are Oriental palms which seem to be but little 

 understood, most of the members being now placed in other 

 genera. P. macarthuri is a beautiful, tufted species of which I 

 have a large and fine example. It eventually forms large clumps, 

 and is a native of New Guinea. There is another specimen in 

 the grounds of Mrs. Marian McAdow at Punta Gorda. 



Raphia ruffia is a magnificent palm from the Mascarene 

 Islands and Madagascar which produces the fiber called raffia. It 

 has a tall caudex and the immense leaves reach a length of fifty 

 to sixty feet. I have several times grown this palm from seed 

 to a height of over a foot and it has died but I see no reason why 

 it should not succeed. Another majestic palm from the Amazon 

 has been called Raphia taedigera but I can hardly believe that 

 it belongs in this genus. 



Rhopalostylus baueri and R. sapida, the only species of the ge- 

 nus, are hardy palms from Norfolk Island and New Zealand, 

 formerly placed in Areca. I have had small plants of both but 

 have not had sufficient experience with them to say what they 

 will do. 



Roscheria melanochaetes is a slender, spiny palm from the Sey- 

 chelles, with leaves from three to five feet long and two to three 

 feet wide that are entire when young but more or less pinnate 

 when old. It should be grown in the shade and probably is 

 tender. This and the two following have entirely failed for me 

 after repeated trials in the open ground. 



Stevensonia grandifolia is one of the most beautiful of palms 

 having very large, bifid, reddish green leaves; the whole plant 

 is beset with spines. It is possible that it may be grown in a 



