126 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



are beautiful palms, generally of dwarf size, which grow in the hot, 

 steamy forests of the Oriental Tropics. 



Livistona is a fine genus of palms from the same general region 

 as Licuala, but I have had much better success with it. L. 

 chinensis, commonly called Latania borbonica, is a beautiful, 

 slow growing species, quite hardy. L. altissima, L. hoogendorpi, 

 L. subglobosa, L. jenkinsiana, L. olivaeformis and L. mariae have 

 all done well with me. L. rotundifolia is a charming species. 

 All except the first are probably tender. 



Lodoicea seychellarum is the celebrated Coco de Mer, or 

 Double Coconut, from the Seychelles. It is a wonderful tree 

 with a trunk a foot in diameter and a hundred feet high; the fan- 

 shaped leaves are twelve feet long and twenty wide. It does 

 not bear fruit until it is thirty years old; the nuts weigh forty 

 pounds each and require ten years to ripen. The base of the 

 tree is rounded and fits into a natural bowl which is filled with 

 holes through which the roots pass. This bowl is a part of the 

 tree but is not attached to it and it has been found in a good state 

 of preservation sixty years after the tree has died. The nuts 

 require a long time to germinate but they have been sprouted 

 and are growing at Washington. They should be tried in lower 

 Florida. 



Mauritia. A genus of half a dozen species of lofty palms from 

 the lower West Indies and South America. I do not think that 

 they have been cultivated to any extent in Florida but they 

 should be tried. 



Pritchardia. The species of this genus vie with those of Latania 

 in beauty and majesty but, unfortunately, they are all very tender 

 and can only be grown successfully in practically frostless sit- 

 uations. I have had P. marti, P. pacified, P. thurstoni and one 

 or two others and all of them have been injured repeatedly. 



Rhapis flabelliformis and humilis are elegant, tufted, reed-like 

 palms from China and Japan, both quite hardy but slow of 

 growth. Both are doing finely for me in shade in the edge of the 

 hammock; the latter is making the better growth. Most elegant 

 effects might be produced by planting these in masses, especially 

 along the banks of pools or lakes. 



Thrinax is a genus of very beautiful and useful palms for the 



