FOLIAGE PLANTS 377 



Phoenix canariensis. 



Phoenix dactylifera, date palm. 



Phoenix Rcebelinii, P. rupicola. 



Chamazrops elegans. 



Washingtonia filifera, thread palm. 



Rhapis flabelliformis, rattan palm. 



Seaforthia elegans. 



Livistona chinensis, (Latania borbonica) fan palm. 



Livistona rotundifolia, round-leaved fan palm. 



Livistona australis. 



Cocos Weddelliana. 



Caryota urens, fish-tail palm. 



Howea (Kentia) Belmoreana, curly palm. 



Howea (Kentia) Forsteriana, thatch palm. 



Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, areca palm. 



610. Botanical characters. The attractive foliage 

 of palms makes them very valuable for church, hall and 

 house decoration, and their vigor makes them easy of 

 cultivation. They have striking and unusual flowering 

 habits, but flowering occurs only when they reach" matu- 

 rity. As the trunk rises, the lower leaves fall, so there 

 is only a tuft of leaves at the top. 



Habitat. Mostly in tropical America, but a number of 

 species are African. The sabals and palmettos of the 

 South extend as far north as North Carolina. 



611. Propagation. Most varieties of palms are propa- 

 gated from seed. The seeds germinate rather slowly, so 

 that it takes six months or more for the seedlings of many 

 species to form the first two leaves. Others germinate in 

 one or two weeks. The seeds are imported at different 

 seasons of the year; the howeas, during July and 

 August; the livistonas, in January; the areca, in Feb- 

 ruary. The seeds cost from fifty cents to two dollars a 

 hundred, depending on the abundance of the seed crop or 

 the scarcity of the species. They are received packed in 

 cocoa-fiber and should be sown at once. One-half finely 



