WASHINGTON 



^VASHINOTONIA 



11)65 



British l'"lu]ul>i:i take yreat .[lunitirie-^ of fruit and 

 Yegetuble?>. Sliipnieiit:^ uf ihtisIihIiU' fruit^s have in)t 

 always beeu fouml to lie protitahle, but the state is fast 

 setrliny: up. and the mitlook for tlie horticulturist is very 

 ^"■i^'li^- J. A. Balmek. 



WASHINGTON GRASS. Sec 



C.lhn)„ha. 



WASHINGTONIA (named for r;,M>r-e Washington). 

 P'ih>ii}ci'(f'. Tall palms, with thf robust trunks clotlied 

 above with remains of the sheaths and petioles: Ivs. 

 terminal, ample, spreading, orbieuhir, Habellately pli- 

 cate, lobed nearly to the middle: segments induplicate, 

 tihuueutous on the margins: rachis short: ligule bir^o, 

 appressed: petiole long, stout, plano-convex, very spiii\' 

 along the edges; spadices long, cnpjously panioulately 

 branched, gh\brous : branches slender, tiexuous; spath' '^ 

 k")ug, membranous, split, glabrous : tls. white : fr. 

 small, ellipsoid, black. Species :i. Ariz., S. Calif, and 

 Mexico. Plate XLVIII. 



filiiera, Wendl. [Brdhea fn<iw,nito.^>( . Hort. B. fil- 

 ifcra, Hort. Prifchd rdia fi hr hwnfosii , Wendl. P. 

 fiiU'era, Hort.). Weeping Palm. Figs. 2716, 2717. 

 Stemcylindrical, 20-40 ft., enlarged atthe base (2-3 ft. 1, 

 covered with persistent petiole bases; petioles 2-5 ft. 

 long. 1-2^2 ill. wide at the summit, glabrous, plano-con- 

 vex, the rather thin mari^ins with stout, hooked spines; 

 ligule large, glabrous, iacerate-; lihule circular, tomen- 

 tose on tiie margins of the 4(i-Hi) sl^gnlents, 3-5 ft. in 

 diam., cleft on the upper side nearly to the middle, 

 grav-greeu; segments margined with numerous fibers 

 6-r2 in. long. S. Calif.. W.Ariz. Gn. 25. p. 393. G.C 

 HI. 12:591. R.H. 1876, p. :i72; 1895, pp. 15.3-155. G.F. 

 6:535. Gt. 1896:5.— TF. fiUfera is perhaps the most 

 characteristic palm of California.. Its immense straight 

 bole and shaggy collar of dedexed dead leaves make a 

 striking and picturesque object. This collar of old 

 leaves usually burns fiercely in the dry season. 



robusta, H. Wendl. (Washhigtduia Sondrap. Hort. in 

 part). Stem more robust: petiole shorter and more 

 densely spiny, the young plants with yellow spines and 

 black -violet sheaths and petioles, at length brown ; 

 blade light green, 3 ft. Ions: by 3% ft. wide; segments 

 60. Western "Hex. G.F. 38:49." R.H. 1885, p. 403. 



Sondrae, Wats. Stem 25 ft. high, 1 ft. in diam.: Ivs. 

 3-4 ft. in diam., somewhat glaucoiis, very filiferous; 

 petioles 3 ft. long, very slender, 2 in. wide at base, :^4in. 

 at apex, floccose-hairy along the margins and with stoul 

 curved spines: fr. 34 in. long, edible. Mex. 



Jaked G. Smith. 



Further Notes ox Washingtoxia. — Our nursery 

 catalogues show that the idfntit\' i.'f tiie three species ot 

 Washingtonia is a matter of conjecture in the minds of 

 growers. In middle California there are two distinct 

 types in general cultivation: (1) the one having very 

 filamentous deeply cleft leaves, long (3-5 ft.) petioles 

 with yellow jnargins and spines, which is the Colorado 

 Desert species, W. fdlfera, Wendl.; it is less hardy in 

 San Francisco than W, rohusta, suffering from cokl 

 winds and fogs and often rotting at the center of the 

 growing part. (2) The species with more robust habit, 

 the growing part of the stem shorter and therefore more 

 distinctly conical, dark leaf- sheath-;. slj...rt. stout petioles 

 with brown, often very dark niar;rins and spines, and 

 shorter, more rigid, less deeply cut an<l often less fila- 

 mentous leaf-blades, which is the one from Mexico and 

 Lower California, W. robusta, Wendl. ( 11'. tSononr, 

 Hort. Calif, in part). This dark color of the petiole 

 margins and spines is equally noticeable in the young 

 as well as in older specimens. Comparative study of 

 the inflorescence may perhaps establish this palm as a 

 mere geographical variety of W. filifera, but we have 

 not been able to study flowering specimens. It is cer- 

 tain that a part of the material offered by nurserynien 

 under the name of Washiiu/tot/ia .Smiorf is really IT". 

 robusfa. Its greater hardiness in the flijiiate of San 

 Francisco shows that Washinylnn'm rnhi'sfn is by far 

 the most desirable species for cuUivation along the 

 coast of middle California. 



The following data give evidence that many of the 

 specimens in cultivation in the San Francisco bay re- 

 gion have originated from Mexican seed and are not, as 



is sometimes sugi^n^strd, iin-rc cultural vari.'lics devel- 

 (.ped from six-d uf iln_- typical fonn of thr Colnradi. 

 Desert. Acrording to rliarlus Abraham, I'or niauv 

 years proprietor of ihr Wcsli-rn Nursery. S;ii} J^'anciscii, 

 siM-d (d' ]\\(s/ilti<jfoni>i rnhnshi was i ni md u.'rd >oiii(. 

 twcnty-hve years a^i'o by Mr. Sressovitcli . a commission 

 merchant of San Francisco, from the coast of :\lexico 

 near (lUaynias. ( )f tlir tri'os raised from this seed there 

 is a. speeinien at Abraham's nursery, and Mr. Atiraham 

 states that there is a hue one in the grounds of St. 

 li;Hatius C(dlege, Sail Francisco, and another at Ihe 

 Crocker residence in Sacramento. The latter has al- 

 ready matured seed, from which Mr. Abraham lias 

 raised a young plant. In the old Bolton garden at 

 (ireeiiwich and Jones streets, San Francise.i. there Wi-v^ 

 growing until this year several well-marked speidinens. 

 Acc'>rding to Miss Lizzie Bolton, these were raised from 

 seeds presented to her mother, Mrs. James R. Hidton 

 (formerly Mrs. Estrada) liy friends who brought them 

 from Mazatlan. These s]M-ciniens are now in I\Ir. Alira- 

 ham's ]nissession. A third im[)ort;dion of seed was made 

 by Mr. John Rock, mana^n-r of the California Nursery 

 Co. at Niles, but we ilo n<it know whence it caniL-. 



Wdslii iiijf'-uia Sonnnr is rarely seen in cuiti vati'ni, 

 though fre<[uently mentioned in nurserymen's cata- 

 lou'vies, and it is certain that much of the material of- 

 fered under this name is really IT. -rohnsfn. In his 

 "Flora of the Cape Region of Baja L'alifrirnia," in Proc. 

 Calif. Acad. Set., series 2. vo].:;' pp. 109-bs2, :\lr. T. S. 

 Brandegee records that Wasliiiiiiloula Soiiont' occurs at 

 La Paz and San Jose, and notes that "a species of 

 Washingtonia is abundant in the caiions of the moun- 

 tains and may be this one." A few years ago Dr. 

 Gustav Eisen is reported to have collected seeds of a 

 Washingtonia at La Paz, which were handed to a gar- 

 dener in San Francisco for propagation; some of the 

 seedlings were obtained by Mr. Abraham, but only one 

 survived; this specinien shows the charactPT'istic slender 





2716. Young plant of Washingtonia filifera. 



petiole and glaucous h'af of the true IT. .s'n/^orT. This 

 species appears to be much less hardy umb-r cultivation 

 than W. rr<busla. 



From the above notes it would appear that both W. 



