ON SOME ORNAMENTALS 



Palms of the genus Chamaerops are also very 

 hardy, perhaps even hardier than the Phoenix 

 palms. I have never known one of them to be 

 injured by frost anywhere in California, even 

 when quite young. 



There are several species of this genus. I have 

 grown them from the seed somewhat extensively, 

 and have noted a wide variation among different 

 species, some making large trees, while others are 

 dwarfs, some of which, in this region, never attain 

 a height of more than three or four feet. One 

 exceedingly thorny species may be multiplied by 

 division readily, as it throws up suckers abund- 

 antly around the old plant, unlike most other 

 palms. Some accidental hybrids have appeared 

 among the species of Chamaerops. 



VARIATION AND DEVELOPMENT 



Notwithstanding the considerable variation 

 among the different strains, there is almost no dis- 

 coverable variation in seedlings of a species of this 

 genus of palm when grown from seed of the same 

 tree. The species most commonly grown in Cali- 

 fornia is C. Excelsa. This is a species that in China 

 and Japan is one of the most useful of trees, its 

 foliage being used for thatch, the rigid leaf stalk 

 for braces, and the woolly substance about its 

 trunks for cordage and other purposes. 



Moreover this is the palm from which fans are 



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