PHCEXIX 



IMKKXIX 



1309 



and at length dorsally divided : bracts usually obso- 

 lete: ils. yellow: t'r. a berry or drupe, oblong, orange, 

 brown or black Species 10 to 12, perhaps more. Tropi- 

 cal and subtropical Asia and Africa. 



JARED G. SMITH. 



rii'i is in ('>n< fit/. The latest botanical monograph 

 of Phu'iiix (by Heccari in Malesia 3:345) admits only 10 

 species, altho'ugh there are about GO names. Such a 

 lumping" of species is very unwelcome to the horti- 

 culturist, and it is probable that nearly all the synonyms 

 cited below represent forms that are abundantly dis- 

 tinct for horticultural purposes. 



A good horticultural appreciation of Phoe- 

 nix is that by William Watson, of Kew, in 

 U.C. III. 9:234, 298, from which liberal ex- 

 tracts are made below. Phoenixes differ from 

 all other pinnate-leaved palms in having the 

 Ivs. t'olded upwards and lengthwise, and in 

 the peculiar form of the seed, as seen in the 

 Date stone. The plants are either male or 

 female. The fruits of only one species are 

 sed for food; viz., P. dactylifera. (For Date 

 culture, see Date. ) In England only P. rupi- 

 whi ranks among popular decorative plants. 

 Of all palms, the cultivated species of Phoe- 

 nix are the most difficult to define. Many 

 hybrids have been raised in the gardens of 

 the Riviera, where many species flower and 

 fruit every year. It is almost impossible to 

 keep these pure. Kerchove records the won- 

 derful fecundity of a Phoenix; P. recUnata 

 at Nice fertilized with pollen from P. tennis, 

 recUnata and pumila produced 20,000 seeds. The rais- 

 ing of Phcenixes from seed is done on a large scale on 

 the Riviera. The seeds are sown in beds in the open 

 and the seedlings transplanted into shallow trenches, 

 like celery, so that the trenches may be regularly 

 flooded during the summer drought. Watson thinks 

 that next to the coco-palm, the Date is perhaps the 

 most useful tree in the world. 



P. Cnnariensis is the noblest of all Phoenixes, and 

 one of the most majestic palms in cultivation. Its rate 

 of growth is astonishing: a tree supposed to be only 10 

 years old had a trunk 4 feet high, 3 feet in diam. at the 

 base, with about 100 Ivs. forming a head 25 feet across. 

 Another specimen of about the same size bore 8 

 bunches of fruit, each weighing about 50 Ibs. 



P. sylvestris is the Wild Date of India, where it is 

 cultivated for its sap, which yields sugar and "toddy." 

 The trunk attains a height of about 4 feet when 7 years 

 old. and it is then tapped by cutting a notch in the stem 

 at the top and catching the sap as it mns out. The tree 

 continues to yield annually 15-18 gallons of sap for 20- 

 25 years, or 8 Ibs. of sugar per year. Fifty thousand 

 tons of date-sugar are produced every year in Bengal 

 alone from this and other palms. 



"P. recUnata and P. spinosa are united under the for- 

 mer name by Beccari. Taking the dwarf, cespitose, 

 shiny-leaved elegant plant found in Caffraria as far 

 south as Grahamstown, and comparing it with the tall, 

 solitary-stemmed, huge-headed, gray-green-leaved plant 

 of the tropical regions of Africa, it is difficult to believe 

 that they are merely forms of one species." 



The following are grown at Kew in greenhouse tern 

 perature (others require stove treatment) : P. Canar- 

 ,dactylifera, h tun ilia and var. Hanceana, inter- 

 nii'ilin. rcfUnafa and spinosa. 



The most interesting novelty in Phoenix during the 

 la*t decade is P. Bcebelenii, the pygmy Phoenix. Fig. 

 17;.~). Specimens 20-30 yrs. old have stems not over 

 2 ft. high. Watson says: "It is by far the smallest of 

 all the many kinds of Phoenix known, and is also excep- 

 tional in the form of its stem and in the elegance and 

 soft texture of its bright green leaves." Watson adds 

 that it deserves to rank with Cocos Weddelliana and 

 Genntmn araciUs for usefulness in a small state. This 

 palm suckers freely and in a wild state grows in clumps. 



ut of deference to the latest monographer, P. Koebel- 

 emi is here treated as a variety of P. humilis; but 

 : Watson declares that it is a distinct species and that in 

 the form and texture of its Ivs. it resembles P. rupicola 

 more than any other species. -^y ]yj 



Phoenix in Florida. No palms in the writer's Florida 

 garden can vie in beauty, staieliness, and massive growth 

 with some of the members of the genus Phoenix. The 

 undersigned cultivates specimens of all the kinds of- 

 fered by the trade. All the palms for this Florida gar- 

 den, with a few exceptions, have been raised during 



1764. Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera. 

 An unusually straight -trunked specimen. 



the last ten years from seed in the writer's greenhouse 

 in Milwaukee. Most of them, although planted on high 

 and dry sandy pineland, begin to show an elegance, 

 stateliness and beauty entirely beyond all expectations, 

 especially the species of Sabal and hardy Cocos, but the 

 Phcenixes are far ahead of them all. As soon as the 

 seedlings began to show their characteristic leaves they 

 were sent to Florida. The first ones were set out in the 

 fall of 1891. Of these Phcenixes several have attained a 

 height of 10-15 ft. and a spread of Ivs. 15-25 ft. in diam. 

 The massive trunks are almost as thick as a water barrel 



