610 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



Young plants are of graceful habit, and sufficiently 

 robust to be used for ordinary decorative work. Stove 

 treatment. A. Cohune, A. funifera, A. spectabilis. 



Brahea. — Closely allied to Thrinax. Fully-developed 

 plants have stems 30 feet high, surmounted by a head of 

 fan-shaped leaves 7 feet across, rachis (leaf-stalk) short 

 and stout, spinous. They are natives of Mexico, and 

 thrive in a greenhouse temperature. B. calcarata, B. 

 dulcis {Thrinax tunicata), B. lucida, B. nobilis. 



Calamus. — A very extensive genus, confined chiefly 

 to the tropics of Asia; mostly of climbing habit, some 

 attaining a stem-length of several hundred feet. These 

 stems are known as "Rattans ", and are used, when split, 

 for chair-bottoms, &c. When young they are invariably 

 graceful, having slender, spinous stems and feathery, pin- 

 nate leaves. They require stove treatment. C. asperrimus, 

 C. ciliaris, C. Oxleyanus, C. tenuis. 



Caryota. — Large trees, sometimes of tufted habit, 

 sometimes with single stems 50 feet high, bearing enor- 

 mous bipinnate leaves, the pinnae shaped like fishes' fins. 

 They are singular in their mode of flowering, the plant 

 growing to its full height before developing an enormous 

 drooping cluster of flowers ; this is succeeded by lateral 

 clusters until almost the base of the stem is reached, 

 when the plant perishes. Young plants are invariably 

 elegant and singular in being bipinnate. C. ochlandra 

 from China may be grown in a greenhouse ; the others 

 are tropical. C. Blancoi, C. Cumingii, C. majestica, C. 

 mitis (sobolifcra), C. ochlandra, C. Rv/mphiana. 



Chamaedorea. — About 60 species of erect, slender- 

 stemmed Palms, all natives of Tropical America. They 

 vary in height, and several are climbers; some have bi- 

 lobed leaves, others are elegantly pinnate. They flower 

 freely even when small; their spadices being bright- 

 coloured, and the flowers powerfully fragrant. Some are 

 stoloniferous. A few may be grown in a greenhouse, the 

 others prefer the stove and shade. C. Arenbergiana, C. 

 corattina, C. elatior (G), C. Erncsti-Augusti, C. gracilis, 

 C. Sartori, I '. scandens (G). 



Chamaerops. — Only one species rightly belongs to 

 this, namely, C. humUis, interesting as being the only 

 native European Palm. In some parts of Sicily and 

 Spain it spreads over the uncultivated sandy tracts just 

 as the common Bracken does with us. It is hardy in 

 South Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. There are 

 numerous varieties, such as macroearpa, torru ntosa, elegans, 

 &c. Excellent for a greenhouse or conservatory, as it 

 grows slowly and rarely exceeds 12 feet in height. 



Chrysalidocarpus (Arcca) lutescens, of Madagascar, 

 but now common in tropical countries. A most useful 

 Palm, forming graceful tufts of yellowish Bamboo -like 

 stems and elegant pinnate leaves, and it bears rough 

 treatment very well. Small plants are much used for the 

 decoration of dinner-tables. Market -growers often sow 

 three seeds close together, and thus obtain attractive little 

 triplet pot-specimens in about three years. 



Cocos. — There are thirty species, including the 

 "Cocoa-nut" (C. nucifcra) and several of the most useful 

 of all garden Palms, C. WeddeUiana and C. phimosa being 

 unrivalled as decorative plants. Some of the species form 

 very large trees, C. phimosa, for instance, being repre- 

 sented at Kew by a giant 60 feet high, with dark-green 

 plume-like leaves 20 feet long. C. WeddeUiana rarely 

 grows more than 6 feet high. It is grown in enormous 

 numbers by nurserymen, plants being saleable when less 

 than two years old. All the species are natives of the 

 western tropics, C. nucifcra being common in all tropical 

 countries. C. campestris (G), C. insignis (Glaziova), C. 



nucifera, C. plumosa (G), C. Procopiana {Marie-Rose), C. 

 WeddeUiana (fig. 737). 



Daemonorops. — Very similar to Calamus, and re- 

 quiring the same treatment under cultivation. They are 

 happiest in a hot, moist house. All the species are orna- 

 mental when small, their spiny stems and rachises being 



Fig. 737.— Cocos WeddeUiana. 



decidedly ornate. D. fissus, D. grandis, D. JcnJcinsianus, 

 D. Lcxcisianus, D. melanochcetes. 



Dictyosperma. — Several Palms, commonly known as 

 Arecas, belong here. They are natives of the Mascarene 

 Islands, where thej r grow to a large size. Under culti- 

 vation they are most ornamental when about a yard high, 

 their pinnate, graceful leaves margined with yellow or 

 dull-red being more elegant at that size than when larger. 

 D. aureum, D. furfuraccum, D. rubrum. 



Diplothemium. — The Palm known as Ceroxylon 

 nireum is rightly D. caudescens. It forms a magnificent 

 specimen where room can be afforded, and even when 

 small its bold, sub-erect leaves, rich black-green above, 

 silvery beneath, are very striking. There are plants at 

 Kew with leaves 15 feet long and 4 feet wide. It is re- 

 markable in having the pinnge set regularly and somewhat 

 rigidly along the rachis from the base to the apex. 



Erythea. — Two handsome California Palms which have 

 been called Braheas are rightly Erytheas. They have stiff, 

 fan -shaped leaves, with spinous stalks and silvery-green 

 blades. In bright sunlight the leaves are almost white. 

 They grow slowly, and are sufficiently hardy to thrive in 

 a conservatory. E. armata, E. edulis (Brahea Roezlii). 



Euterpe. — Two useful garden plants are members of 

 this genus, viz. E. edulis and E. oleracea, the " Cabbage 

 Palms" of South America. They have slender, erect, 

 ringed stems, graceful, pinnate, arching leaves, and are ex- 

 cellent plants for an intermediate house or stove, but they 

 do not bear rough usage as well as many Palms. They 

 are pretty when only a foot high. 



Geonoma. — A large genus of tropical American Palms 

 of varying height and foliage, some being tall, whilst 

 others are stemless, and the leaves of some are elegantly 

 pinnate, whilst in others they are simply bilobed. They 

 all require tropical conditions, and they like shade They 



