PARK AND CEMETERY. 
33 
HARDY PALMS. 
The phenomenal cold of 1895 and of 1899 have 
tested the endurance of palms. And New Orleans 
may, in a certain sense, be called nature’s experi- 
ment' station, in that tropical or semi tropical plants 
that survive such winters, when fully exposed, may 
be relied upon to stand the fluctuations of tempera- 
ture in any ordinary greenhouse, or living room. 
The Cycads have proven perfectly hardy. The same 
ones that lost their fronds in ’95, will make the same 
sacrifice in ’99 as they had entirely regained their 
size and beauty since ’95. The intense cold has 
blackened them to apparent death; but basing ex- 
PALMS IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE COLD WAVE. 
Fig. I. Shows effect of frost on palms before being cut back. 
Fig. 2. Shows trunk denuded of its foliage. These palms stand 
in private grounds and were some 25 feet high. 
pectation upon the experience of ’95, when spring 
returns they will revive. 
Gray says, “Cycas revoluia is erroneously 
called the Sago Palm;” but so it is called, and of 
all the Cycads is the hardiest. It has beautiful, dark 
green, outwardly arching pinnate leaves, or branches 
that are the picture of grace and elegance in growth, 
and last long when cut. These fern-like fronds are 
exceedingly popular in mortuary designs. 
In the most exposed positions in New Orleans 
and all along the Gulf Coast, the Cycas revoluta 
and the closely allied Zamia integrifolia have never 
been destroyed by adverse winters. The Cycads 
in Audubon Park that withstood the coldof ’95 are 
handsome specimens, up to date, but the fronds 
will require cutting ofif, leaving the trunk free to 
put forth another set. It is exceedingly interest- 
ing to observe nature’s process in the new forma- 
tion of a crown. The young fronds are red and up- 
turned, like a filagree cup and at a distance look 
like a flower. As they grow the reddish hue 
changes, through various shades, to green, and at- 
taining sufficient size the stems arch outward, grad- 
ually assuming the graceful, feathery form that is 
so truly beautiful. 
One peculiar feature of the recovery of the Cy- 
cad, is that the young plants revive first and make 
the quickest growth. Those that are ten or twenty 
years old will be barren of growth, not yet prepared 
to rally, while the three and four year old ones will 
be putting up the cup of reddish young leaves. When 
the older, stronger ones do start, however, the 
number and size of the branches, of course, surpass 
the younger plants. 
The Cj'cads partake of the nature of Conifers and 
consolidate the trunk from the exterior, like the oak, 
and other exogenous trees. They are of slow growth, 
and this very fact commends them to favor as plants 
for special purposes. If secured at the proper stage, 
they will give satisfaction for years without over- 
growing the allotted space. Could I have but one 
Cycad, for all round purposes, and all climates the 
Cycas revoluta would be the choice. The Zamia 
integrifolia is also a comely Cycad, but less elegant 
in appearance than revoluta. 
The pinnate leaves are less divided, less fern- 
like and the trunk of revoluta is perfectly straight 
from base to summit, whereas Zamia has a round, 
bulb-like base. But the two together, are much 
grown, there being less desirable plants than Zamia. 
Wherein they suit general culture lies partly in 
the fact, that at their best and sturdiest, they are 
dwarf plants. There need not be any fear of get- 
ting a white elephant for which the cage will be too 
small. I have seen specimens twenty years old that 
were very neat and easily accommodated in ordinary 
bounds. The rapidity with which they recover the 
crown lost by hard cold, is attributable to the already 
acquired vigor of the roots and trunk. The growth 
of the entire plant is slow and the leaves remain 
tolerably near one size a long time, increasing in 
beauty by new ones from the centre of the crown. 
The new leaves do not curl up like those of the 
fern, but from their very incipiency are up-raised, 
slightly touching their tips, like the fingers of hands 
lifted up in prayer. G. T. Drennan. 
♦ » * 
[Supt. Fonta informs Park and Cemetery that Cham- 
terops excelsa withstood the severe weather better than any 
otlier of the hft> or more varieties of palms, and will henceforth 
be used extensively in Audubon Park. Ed,] 
