i6 THE LIVING CYCADS 



together with Mr. Gaw, he began a series of inquiries 

 which finally resulted in locating the plant in the moun- 

 tains beyond Tuxtepec, more than a hundred miles 

 south of Vera Cruz. 



Two years later, fully provided with directions and 

 introductions, I started for Tuxtepec. At Vera Cruz I 

 chanced to meet a man who was quite sure that plants 

 like the potted plant in the park could be found near 

 Tierra Blanca, a town which I should have to pass on 

 my way. Accordingly I got off at that place and after 

 an hour's ride on horseback was rewarded by my first 

 view of Dioon spinulosum, not the small plants which 

 descriptions had led me to expect, but splendid speci- 

 mens several feet high with leaves three or four feet long. 

 I was informed that plants were larger and more abun- 

 dant a few miles farther south, and so I turned in that 

 direction and soon found that the information was 

 correct, for on the immense hacienda of the Joliet 

 Tropical Plantation Company, a plantation owned by 

 people in Joliet, Illinois, magnificent specimens are 

 abundant (Fig. 5). Mr. J. C. Dennis, superintendent 

 of the plantation, generously furnished horses, guides, 

 and the hospitality of his palatial home, while I explored 

 the mountains and secured photographs and material. 



Although Dioon spinulosum grows on the prevailing 

 limestone rocks which have given the name Tierra 

 Blanca to the region, it is well shaded by a forest of 

 Spanish cedar, mahogany, ceiba, various kinds of rul)l)er, 

 and occasionally ebony. Orchids, bromeliads, ferns, 

 and other plants weigh down the branches of the trees 

 until they break ofi", so that one may collect this epiphytic 

 vegetation without the labor of climbing. In some 



