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both natives of the West Indies, the former also occurring in the 
southern part of Florida and in Panama. The plants are only 
about 15 feet tall and are just beginning to show the trunks, 
which make these palms in their tropical home such a striking 
feature of the landscape. The cabbage palm, sometimes attain- 
ing a height of over 100 feet, is of great economic importance, 
The broad bases of the petioles of the old leaves are used fora 
number of purposes, and the heart of tender young leaves is 
made into pickles or used as a vegetable. The trunks are used 
for making troughs; from the interior tissues is manufactured a 
sort of sago; and from the nuts is procured a kind of oil. Just 
at the entrance to house no. 2 are plants of Pexanga Kuhlu, 
Kuhl’s palm, from Malaysia ; the yellowish-white petioles, rather 
unusual in the palms, make it quite conspicuous. 
On the opposite side are the Howeas, natives of Lord Howe's 
Island, lying just east of Australia, Howea Belmoreana and H. 
Forsteriana, both much in use for decorative purposes in this 
country, commonly under the name of Kenia. 
These are followed by a large group of the genus Lvistona: 
L. Chinensis, the Bourbon palm, or, as it is frequently called, 
Latania Borbonica, another of our decorative plants, in several 
specimens, one of which is about 20 feet high; Z. australis, at 
home in Australia; and ZL. rotundifolia, from Java, a neat bright 
looking species, whe is much in favor as a house plant. 
Another palm much used in decorating is grouped near the south 
door, Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, the yellow-fruited palm, known 
more commonly as Areca /utescens. The base of the trunk soon 
surrounds itself with offshoots, and these, with the graceful leaves 
with their bright colored petioles and midribs, make the plant 
peculiarly attractive for decoration. It is a native of Madagascar, 
where it attains a height of 30 feet; the taller of our plants are 
about 20 feet, and one of these fruited the past summer. 
Just back of these is Ptychosperma Macarthurit, one of the 
Australian feather-palms, with its tall, slender annulated trunk ; 
this is usually in flower, as it is a free bloomer; it is native to 
Australia. Licuala grandis,a most difficult plant to grow suc- 
cessfully, is represented in a single plant to the right near the 
