Trees for Town and City Streets. 33 



sented, Washingtonia filifera Wendland and W. robusta Wendland. 

 The first is a native of the canyons and barren slopes that surround 

 the Coachella Valley of southern California, while the other species 

 probably was brought in the early days of travel by way of the 

 Isthmus of Panama from the region of San Jose del Cabo, the ex- 

 tremity of Lower California. The name robusta is used because 

 this species grows much more rapidly in height than W. filifera, 

 though the trunk is more slender. Both species are hardy and thrive 

 well through regions 2, 3, and 5, and also in regions 12 and 13. 

 Washing tonics robusta requires less heat than W. filifera, but both 

 will endure several degrees of frost. Even in California Washing- 

 tonia robusta is distinctly preferable for localities near the coast. 

 In the vicinity of San Diego the leaves of Washingtonia filifera be- 

 come badly infested with a parasitic fungus that does not attack 

 Washingtonia robusta. 



OTHER HARDY FAN PALMS. 



The species most commonly used for street and ornamental plant- 

 ing in the California coast districts is the Chinese or windmill palm. 

 This palm has a slender trunk clothed with brown fibers, flat fan- 

 shaped leaves, and rather straight radiating segments. The same 

 species is hardy at New Orleans and Charleston, and even at Laurens, 

 S. C., at an altitude of 600 feet, but it does not thrive in the sandy 

 soil of Florida. 



The vegetable-hair palm, a native of Spain, Sicily, and North 

 Africa, is similar to the Chinese palm but smaller and more compact 

 and with large, sharp spines on the petioles of the leaves. When 

 young it suckers from the base, like the date palm, so that clusters of 

 it may be formed. 



The Guadalupe Island palm is one of the most popular species 

 in southern California in the region of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, 

 and San Diego. This palm is a nafive of Guadalupe Island, off 

 the coast of Lower California, and is not known to occur elsewhere in 

 the wild state. It is well adapted to the cool coast climate of Cali- 

 fornia, but not to the interior valleys. It is smaller than the Wash- 

 ingtonia palms, with a rather short trunk, 15 to 20 feet high, and a 

 dense crown of fresh green leaves. 



The California blue palm, formerly placed in the same genus with 

 the Guadalupe Island species, is very distinct in habits as well as in 

 general appearance, having bluish or grayish green leaves, strongly 

 toothed petioles, and long, slender flower clusters. The trunk is 

 very robust, often 2 to 3 feet in diameter, and attains a height of 30 

 to 40 feet. Several of these features are shared with the Washing- 

 tonia palms. It also has the ability to grow in the dry, hot interior 



