174 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



grow along streams and wet places in shade and are so tender 

 I can scarcely get them through the winter. 



Dioon. A magnificent Mexican Cycad with a great crown of 

 long, flat, pinnatifid leaves of a rich, attractive green. It is a 

 member of a once noble family that is now nearly extinct. It 

 has a stiff, formal appearance and is appropriate for planting 

 near dwellings. It will stand quite a little cold. 



Dracaena. D. draco, the Dragon's Blood Tree of the Canaries, 

 does well for me in pots but not in the open. D. fragrans partly 

 succeeds in rich soil out of doors, D. godseffiana is doing well in 

 partial shade, D. goldieana and D. sanderiana grow nicely in pots 

 but not outside. 



Echinocactus. So far as my experience goes none of these, the 

 Mamillarias, Echinocereus or Melocactus do well here. A large 

 number of the latter were brought from the Bahamas some years 

 ago and planted in the grounds of the Ro}'al Palm Hotel at Miami 

 but they have not taken hold. A few of the Opuntias succeed 

 here more or less. 



Encephalartos. Magnificent Cycads with long leaves, from 

 tropical South Africa. They are expensive plants and I have 

 never tried them. 



Eucharis amazonica is one of the most beautiful herbaceous 

 plants we grow in South. Florida. It is doing fairly well in the 

 edge of the hammock. The lubber grasshoppers do not seem to 

 know whether they prefer this or the Crinums but they generally 

 manage to get both. 



Euphorbia. I have never been able to make any of the succu- 

 lent species do any good. E. jacquiniflora is a fine half shrubby 

 form, beautiful but very tender. 



Fittonia. Two species, F. argyroneura with elliptical leaves 

 netted with silver veins and F. verschaffelti with similar shaped 

 leaves netted with coppery red, are cultivated. They require 

 heat, shade and moisture and are fine for ferneries. 



Furcraea. Succulent plants resembling Agaves but the flowers 

 are more showy. F. cubensis has green leaves; F. gigantea, F. 

 tuber osa, F. beddinghausi and F. pubescens are fine. F. lindeni 

 is a splendid plant of great size with striped leaves. All are from 

 tropical America and are tender except F. longaeva. 



