612 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



treatment well. P. augusta, P. Sanderiana, P. singa- 

 porensis. 



Ptychosperma. — P. Alexandra? is an Archontophoenix. 

 Some of the plants included here in Ptychoraphis have 



Fig. 739.— Linospadix Petrickiana. 



also been called Ptychospermas in gardens. None of the I 

 true plants of this genus have any particular value as I 

 garden plants. 



Rhapis. — Two of the most useful Palms are R. humilis 

 and R. flabelliformis, both natives <>f China, where they 

 form Bamboo-like clusters of slender stems clothed with I 

 small palmate leaves, which in R, humilis have the seg- 

 ments gracefully arched and attenuated, whilst in the 

 other they are stiffer and less elegant. Both thrive under 

 greenhouse conditions, and when quite small they are ser- 

 viceable as table plants; they bear rough usage very well. 



Rhopalostylis. — The pinnate-leaved Palms known in 

 gardens as Kentia <>r Areca Baueri and sapida belong to 

 this genus; the former is a native «>f Norfolk Island, the 

 latter of New Zealand. They are excellent for a large 

 conservatory, where they may be planted out or grown in 

 large tubs. When small they are less elegant than the 

 Howeas (Kentias), but they may be grown under cooler 

 treatment than these will support. R. sapida has nar- 

 rower leaflets than the other. 



Roscheria melanochcetes is a handsome tropical Palm 

 from the Mascarene Islands, where it forms a slender tree 

 20 feet high, with large, spiny, flabellate leaves. It is 

 sometimes grown as a specimen plant in a tropical house, 

 but it is somewhat difficult to keep in condition. 



Seaforthia. — See Archontophoenix Cunninghamii. 



Stevensonia grandifolia is remarkable for its large 

 leaves mottled with red -brown, and also for the long 

 spines which thickly clothe the leaf-stalks. There is a 

 plant of it 20 feet high in the great Palm house at Kew. 

 It is a native of the Seychelles, where it forms a stem 

 50 feet high and a foot in diameter. In some gardens it 

 still bears the name of Phaenicophorum seychellarum. It 

 requires plenty of heat and moisture. 



Thrinax. — All the species are elegant when young, 

 and when hilly developed they have few equals for grace- 

 fulness. Some of them grow to a height of 40 feet, whilst 

 others, T. Morrisii and T. pumilio for instance, do not 

 exceed a yard in height. They are easily distinguished 

 from all other fan-leaved Palms by their slender, unarmed 



leaf -stalks and the brown, netted fibre which envelopes 

 the stem. They grow rather slowly when young. They 

 require tropical treatment. No Palms are better adapted 

 for the decoration of large, warm houses. They are all 

 native of Tropical America and the West 

 Indies. T. argentea, T. barbadensis, 

 T. excelsa, T. Morrisii, T. parviflora, T. 

 pumilio, T. radiata. 



Trach year pus. — Not a particularly 

 euphonious name for one of the com- 

 monest and most useful of Palms, known 

 to most people as Chamcerops Fortunei, 

 the Chusan Palm, the only truly hardy 

 Palm in this country. At Kew there 

 are specimens on the lawns, where they 

 have been many years, winter and 

 summer, without protection. There 

 are also two very large examples, 45 feet 

 high, in the temperate house, and these 

 are interesting as being two of the first 

 batch sent home from China by For- 

 tune in 1845. Another of the same 

 age is on the lawn in front of the 

 drawing - room window at Osborne. 

 Plants intended for planting perma- 

 nently out-of-doors should be grown in a 

 cool house for a few years. T. excelsa 

 Ohamosrops Fortunei, C. excelsa). 

 Verschaffeltia splendida. — Another noble Palm from 

 Mauritius, where, growing among the rocks, it towers up 

 to a height of 80 feet, its trunk a foot in diameter and 

 raised as it were on stout roots. Young plants show the 



Fiji. 740.— Walli^hia earyotoides. 



same peculiarity; they have large bilobed leaves, bright - 

 green with reddish stalks and black needle-like spines. 

 It grows freely under moist tropical conditions, and is 

 one of the most striking of Palms at any age. 



Wallichia.— Dwarf tufted Palms, with long pinnate 



