OREODOXA 



OREOPANAX 



2405 



A. Staminate fls. bearing columnar pistillodes that are 

 3-parted at the apex (Oreodoxa). 



Sancfina, HBK. St. 120-150 ft., smooth, glabrous, 

 grayish black: Ivs. pinnate; Ifts. membranaceous : 

 wood very hard, used in building houses. Colombia. 

 Apparently cult, only in S. Calif, within the U. S. Fran- 

 ceschi says it has brownish If .-stalks and is more tender 

 than O. regia or 0. oleracea. 



AA. Staminate fls. bearing spherical or ovoid pistillodes 

 with sessile stigmas (Roystonea). 



B. Trunk usually swollen at or above the middle. 



regia, HBK. (Roystonea regia, O. F. Cook). ROYAL 

 PALM. Fig. 2675. Caudex 40-60 ft. high. : Ivs. 8^0 

 ft. long; If.-segms. 2 3/2 ft. long, 1 in. or less wide, 

 linear, acuminate: fr. ovoid, j^in. Cuba, Antigua. 

 G.F. 9:155. S.S. 10:505. G.C. III. 17:239; 27:297. 

 A.F. 12:311. G.M. suppl. Oct. 1, 1892. Commonly 

 planted in the W. Indies; also elsewhere. The form in 

 Fla. (separated as Roystonea floridana, O. F. Cook) is 

 said to lack the characteristic bulge in the trunk and 

 to grow in reach of tide-water rather than on the hills 

 or elevated lands. In the Everglades this native palm 

 sometimes reaches 125 ft. in height, with Ivs. 15 ft. long. 

 It is tall and slender when young. 



Borinquena, Reasoner (Roystonea Borinquena, O. F. 

 Cook). The ROYAL PALM of Porto Rico. Trunk usu- 

 ally with a prominent bulge, but sometimes slender, 

 about 30^-35 ft. tall; otherwise much as in B. regia but 

 differing in having more densely branched infl., which 

 is covered with a dark brown pubescence: seeds about 

 J^in. long, distinctly narrower than those of O. regia 

 and somewhat flattened or concave on the back. Porto 

 Rico, on limestone hills. According to Reasoner it 

 does well in extreme S. Fla. outdoors. 



BB. Trunk not swollen at the middle, usually perfectly 

 cylindric. 



oleracea, Mart. (Areca oleracea, Jacq. Euterpe 

 Caribtea, Spreng. Roystonea oleracea, O. F. Cook). 

 CABBAGE PALM. Caudex 100-120 ft. high: Ivs. 10-14 

 ft. long; If.-segms. lanceolate-linear, acuminate, 3 ft. 

 long, \Yz in. wide: fr. obovoid-oblong, %in. W. Indies. 

 Cult, in S. Fla. L jj g f 



OREOPANAX (i. e., mountain Panax). Araliacex. 

 Tropical American shrubs and trees grown in the 

 greenhouse. 



Leaves simple or compound, entire or toothed, thick: 

 fls. in dense heads which are arranged in racemes or 

 panicles; calyx with minute or obsolete limb; petals 

 4-^7, usually 5, the stamens of the same number and 

 with ovate or oblong anthers; ovary 3-7-loculed, the 

 styles rather long and bearing a flat, not thick, stigma: 

 fr. globose and berry like. Some ninety species-names 

 have been referred to this genus, but the number of 

 species is probably much less than this number. In the 

 trade, the species of Oreopanax are usually known as 

 aralias, but in the Aralia tribe the petals are imbricate 

 in the bud, whereas in Oreopanax they are valvate. 

 Few species of Oreopanax are known in cult. Harms 

 (Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfamilien) divides the species 

 into 3 groups, Ivs. digitate, Ivs. lobed, Ivs. not lobed. 

 The species described below are those which are now 

 most often mentioned in gardening literature, but only 

 the first seems to be much known here. 



Propagation is by cuttings and seeds, any tune dur- 

 ing January, February and March, the earlier the better. 

 Half -ripened growth of the extreme tops should be 

 placed in a warm propagating-bed with a bottom heat 

 of about 80. Keep them covered with glass and give 

 sufficient moisture and plenty of shade. When the 

 roots are about Yi inch long, they may be lifted care- 

 fully and potted off into 2- or 2^-inch pots, using a 

 mixture of loam, leaf-mold and peat in equal parts, 



adding enough sand to make it friable. Keep them 

 shaded close and moist until well established, when they 

 may be brought out into full sun. Increase their pot 

 room until they are in 6- or 7-inch pots. They can be 

 kept in fair condition for some time if fed with liquid 

 manure once or twice a week during the spring and 

 summer. During the summer, they will need syringing 

 on all bright days. Always give enough ventilation to 

 keep the growth from becoming too soft, or the atmos- 

 phere from becoming too humid. They thrive in an 

 intermediate temperature, in winter from 55 to 60 

 with a 15 rise during bright days; in spring and summer 

 60 to 68 for night, with 75 to 80 with sun. They 

 will require some shade when the sun becomes power- 

 ful, but not so much as to make them soft. A good 

 compost to use for bigger shifts would be 

 fibrous soil four parts, leaf-mold and 

 well-decayed cow-manure one part each. 

 Give them plenty of good drainage in 

 order to keep the mixture from becom- 

 ing sour. Do not let them become dry 

 at the roots. In the 

 winter they will need 

 less water and syring- 

 ing. Keep thrips down 

 by syringing and fumi- 

 g a t i o n s. Oreopanax 

 can also be increased 

 from seed. This seed 

 can be secured through 

 some of the European 

 firms in the spring. It 

 may be sown in pans, 

 using a mixture of 

 loam, peat and sand 

 in equal parts. Cover 

 the seeds about three times their size 

 with finely sifted compost. Place a 

 glass over each pan and keep shaded 

 and moist. They will come better 

 if placed over bottom heat. When 

 large enough to handle, pot off into 

 small pots, using a little heavier 

 mixture than the seed was sown in. 

 They may be shifted and grown on 

 under the above cultural directions. 

 (J. J. M. Farrell.) 



A. Lvs. all simple. 2676 Oreopanax 



reticulatum, Decne. & Planch, reticulatum. Prop- 

 (Ardlia reticulata, Willd.). Fig. 2676. erly Meryta Den- 

 Small tree, with alternate, thick, tamii. (xM) 

 entire, oblanceolate Ivs. 12-18 in. 

 long, somewhat revolute on the margin, strongly alter- 

 nate-veined and reticulated with shades of green: fl.- 

 heads spherical, nearly or quite an inch diam. S. Amer.? 

 A handsome plant for foliage. 



AA. Some of the Ivs. strongly digitately lobed or angled. 



Sanderiinum, Hemsl. Shrub or small tree, with habit 

 of Fatsia papyrifera: Ivs. glabrous, thick and glossy, 

 long-stalked, triangular-ovate in outline, on young 

 shoots deeply 3-lobed but on flowering plants cordate 

 and entire: fls. minute, in small, globose heads, which 

 are arranged in racemose panicles. Guatemala. G.C. 

 III. 13:451. A.F. 8:1283. 



AAA. Some or all of the Ivs. digitate. 

 Epremesnilianum, Andre. Shrub of striking habit: 

 Ivs. large, long-stalked, digitate, the Ifts. 7-9, oblong or 

 lanceolate and usually tapering at either end, the middle 

 ones deep-lobed: fl. -heads in a spike. Origin unknown; 

 perhaps a garden form of 0. dactylifolium, Hort., in 

 which each of the 7 lobes is usually lobed. R.H. 1884, 

 pp. 320, 321. Gn. 29, pp. 354, 355; 30, p. 447. Named 

 for Count Epremesnil, Dieppe, France. Well-grown 

 plants resemble Fatsia japonica (Aralia Sieboldii). 



