of the leaves is silvery, and this character, which is found gener- 

 ally in the species of this genus, gives to the leaves a peculiar 

 silvery appearance when swaying in the breezes of their native 

 homes. Another plant in the immediate neighborhood is Phoem- 

 cophorium sechellarum, known only from the Seychelles Islands. 

 An account in detail of this specimen, with an illustration, will be 

 found in the Journal for September, 1902. The large leaves, 

 which are merely toothed on the margin, are quite in contrast 

 with the more divided leaves of its neighbors. While this plant 

 has flowered in other conservatories, it is believed that it perfected 

 fruit here under cultivation for the first time, and from seeds thus 



and until the plants attain a considerable height, the leaves of 

 this palm are clothed with a dense growth of needle-like spines. 

 But a short distance from this is a West Indian palm, Acrocomia 

 media, secured during one of the Garden expeditions to Porto 

 Rico. It is known as the tufted palm. The trunk is armed 

 with numerous black flattened spines. 



Almost opposite to the Phocnicophorium is a large specimen of 

 a Mexican palm, Acanthorhisa aculcata, curious in the devel- 

 opment of spines on its trunk which are quite different from 

 those in the Acrocomia. Near the entrance to house no. 1 5 is 

 Thrinax microcarpa, the small-fruited thatch-palm, from the 

 southern part of Florida. This is rare in cultivation under glass. 

 Near this, on one of the rafters, is a climbing palm from Java, the 

 rough calamus, Calamus asperrimus. There are about two hun- 

 dred species of these climbing palms, all inhabitants of the Old 

 World, where they support themselves on the surrounding vege- 

 tation by means of the long spiny tips to the leaves. Standing 

 well above the other palms to the left of the walk and near the 

 entrance to house no. 1 5 is a large specimen of the East Indian 

 wine-palm, Caryota urens. This is one of the group, the members 

 of which begin to flower at the apex of the stem and die when 

 done flowering. It is this palm which furnishes much of the 

 palm-wine or toddy of India. To obtain this a man climbs the 

 palm and cuts off the flower-cluster before it expands, hanging 

 a receptacle to the cut end to catch the juice, which flows freely, 



