fine specimen. The petioles of the leaves are strongly armed 

 with stout spines. Small plants of Livistona rotundifolia, also 

 from Java, very popular for the past few years as a house plant* 

 will be found in the immediate vicinity. 



Opposite to the plant of Livistona Hoogeiidorpii are two plants 

 of Licuala grandis, from New Britain. This is not so easily 

 grown as the livistonas, requiring more heat. Two palms from 

 Lord Howe's Island will be found in this part of the house — 

 they are Howea Belmoreana, the curly palm, and Htwea Forster- 

 iana, the flat or thatch-leaf palm, both most popular as house 

 plants, and deservedly so, for they possess the qualifications of 



house culture. Many thousands of these are grown and sold in 

 the neighborhood of New York every year. Upon the Howea 

 Forsteriana a plant of the genus Vanilla is growing ; it is from 

 the fruits of Vanilla planifolia, one of the orchids native in tropical 

 America, that the flavoring extract known as vanilla is obtained. 

 Two large plants of Neoivashingtonia robusta, the desert palm, 

 will be found near the south entrance. An account of these, in 

 an article on " George Washington's Palms," will be found in the 

 Journal for February, 1904, accompanied by two illustrations, 

 one of the tree as it grows in the California Desert, the other of 

 one of the specimens in the Garden collection. Nearby is a 

 specimen of the royal palm, Roystonea regia, found in southern 

 Florida, the West Indies and in Central America. It is closely 

 related to the cabbage palm of the West Indies, R. oleracea, to 

 which allusion has already been made. Another of the popular 

 house palms is Chrysalidocarpus lutesccns, commonly known as 

 Areca lutcscens, a native of Madagascar. It is sometimes called 

 the golden-fruited palm, on account of the color of its fruit. 

 This is represented in the collection by several large specimens 

 fifteen to twenty feet tall. Its great usefulness as a decorative 

 plant lies in its graceful habit and the rich yellow of its petioles 



md leaf-midribs, which £ 



especially marked i 



the form in which this is commonly used. Another of the palms 

 having the leaves armed with needle-like spines is Acanthophoenix 

 crinita from the Mascarene Islands, a specimen of which will be 



