286 



Jvhj Plants. 



showy blossoms to the breeze and bees in July. It is rapidly 

 growing in favor as a shade tree, and is incomparable for posts. 

 It lasts for a great many years when imbedded in the earth. 

 But, "the noblest Roman of them all" is the cabbage palmetto, 

 Chamoerops palmetto (Fig. 157), as Mr. Hart, of Florida, says, 



Fig. 157. 



Cabbage Palmetto. 



this is the linden of the South. It yields abundant honey, 

 which, as all who saw and tasted it at the late Convention at 

 Cincinnati, can vouch, is unsurpassed in flavor. Mr. Muth 

 well said that he wished no finer. This tree grows to the 

 heighth of seventy feet. The trunk is leafless to near the top, 

 and varies little in size from the earth to the top. The small, 

 white blossoms nestle among the long palm leaves in profusion, 

 and are rich in both nectar and pollen, from June 1st till 

 August. The tree is found from the Carolinas to the Gulf. 

 At the same time with the above, the white blossom of the 

 black mangrove, Avicennia tomentosa, and its near relative, 

 Avicennia oblongifolia, come forth with their abundant and in- 

 comparable nectar which hangs in dropsi The honey from 

 this and the cabbage palmetto is clear, and as fine and beauti- 



