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valleys (regions 3 and 5). In Texas the blue palm has proved 

 hardy at San Antonio, and even as far north as Austin. 



DATE PALM. 



The Canary Island date palm is the most popular palm for park 

 or street planting, being more hardy than the true date palm, larger 

 and more vigorous in growth, and producing no suckers from the 

 base of the trunk. Well-grown specimens in the California coast 

 districts (region 2) with trunks from 2 to 3 feet thick and immense 

 crowns of spreading deep-green leaves are among the most imposing 

 forms of plant life. The leaflets instead of radiating from one point, 

 as in fan palms, are arranged along both sides of a common stem or 

 midrib. Palms with this arrangement of leaves are called pinnate 

 palms. Though less robust in other regions, the species is very 

 hardy and adapted for planting anywhere in the palm belt (regions 

 3,5, 12, and 13). 



The true date palm is adapted to the warmer parts of regions 3 

 and 5, but it is much inferior to the Canary Island species for orna- 

 mental use because the foliage is less attractive, owing to its habit of 

 sending out suckers from the base of the trunk. 



THE COCONUT AND ITS RELATIVES. 



The true coconut palm is confined to a narrow belt along the coast 

 of southern Florida, but other species of Cocos are planted in the 

 coast districts of California. The species that is most prominent 

 in park and street plantings around San Diego, Los Angeles, 

 and Santa Barbara is usually known as Cocos plumosa or Cocos 

 romanzofficfria, and is a rather tall, slender palm with a long- jointed 

 trunk about 1 foot in diameter and long, spreading, feathery, deep- 

 green leaves. Another series is represented by Cocos yatay and 

 several similar species, often called Cocos austmlis in nursery cata- 

 logues. They have short, thick trunks, grayish or bluish foliage, 

 and fleshy edible fruits, highly flavored, somewhat like pine- 

 apples. These- gray-leaved species are very hardy. Another coco- 

 nut relative is the Chilean molasses palm, which has a massive 

 trunk 3 or 4 feet in diameter, specimens of which are growing at a 

 few places in California. 



OTHER PINNATE PALMS. 



The amethyst palm, a native of Australia, is commonly planted 

 in California. It usually appears in lists and nursery catalogues 

 as Seaforthia elegans or Archontophoenix alexandrae, but it is now 

 recognized as distinct from both of these species and has received 

 a new name, Loroma ametkystina. Except certain species of Phoenix 

 and Cocos, it is the only pinnate-leaved palm that grows freely in 



