STREET TREES. 39 
DATE PALM. 
The Canary Island date palm’ is the most popular palm for park 
or street planting, being more hardy than the true date palm, larger 
and more vigorous in growth, and producing no suckers from the 
base of the trunk. Well-grown specimens in the California coast 
districts (region 2) with trunks from 2 to 3 feet thick and immense 
crowns of spreading deep-green leaves are among the most imposing 
forms of plant life. Though less robust in other regions, the species 
is very hardy and adapted for planting anywhere in the palm belt 
(regions 3, 5, 12, and 13). 
The true date palm? is adapted to the warmer parts of regions 3 
and 5, but it is much inferior to the Canary Island species for orna- 
mental use because the foliage is less attractive, due to its habit of 
sending out suckers from the base of the trunk. 
THE COCONUT AND ITS RELATIVES. 
The true coconut palm is confined to a narrow belt along the coast 
of southern Florida, but other species of cocos are planted in the 
coast districts of California. The species that is most prominent 
in park and street plantings around San Diego, Los Angeles, 
and Santa Barbara is usually known as Cocos plumosa or Cocos 
romanzofiana, and is-a rather tall, slender palm with a long-jointed © 
_ trunk about 1 foot in diameter and long, spreading, feathery, deep- 
ereen leaves. Another series is represented by Cocos yatay and 
several similar species, often called Cocos australis in nursery cata- 
logues. They have short, thick trunks, very glaucous grayish or 
bluish foliage, and fleshy edible fruits, highly flavored, somewhat 
like pineapples. These gray-leaved species are very hardy. An- 
other coconut relative is the Chilean molasses palm,? which has a 
massive trunk 3 or 4 feet in diameter, specimens of which are growing 
at a few places in California. 
OTHER PINNATE PALMS. 
The amethyst palm, a native of Australia, is commonly planted 
in California. It usually appears in lists and nursery catalogues 
as Seaforthia elegans or Archontophoenixz alexandrae, but it is now 
recognized as distinct from both of these species and has received 
a new name, Loroma amethystina. It is the only pinnate-leaved 
palm, except certain species of Phoenix and Cocos, that grows freely 
in the open air in the coast districts of California, from Santa Bar- 
bara to San Diego. In habit and general appearance Loroma is 
more like the royal palm, though with a smaller trunk and fewer 
leaves. The pinkish purple drooping inflorescence is very attractive 
and develops into a large cluster of scarlet berries. 
1 Phoenix canariensis Hort. 2 Phoenix dactylifera L. 3 Jubaea chilensis Baill. 
