PLANTS OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA 
39 
Mucuna urens. Sea Bean. The large 
seeds of this West Indian vine are often 
washed up on our shores and many of 
them will germinate and grow, though 
the plants have never become established 
in a wild state in Florida, so far as I 
know. I have repeatedly planted the 
seeds and had vines get up to 20 or 30 
feet and for some reason they have died. 
At last I have several vines that, to¬ 
gether, run over a half acre of the ham¬ 
mock. It has trifoliate leaves and large 
clusters of strange and handsome, pen¬ 
dant, yellow flowers in winter and spring. 
These are followed by pods more or less 
covered with stinging hairs. When ripe 
the seed is an inch in diameter, brownish 
with a distinct dark border. The stems 
of these vines, knotted and twisted to¬ 
gether, are now as large as my thigh. 
Passiflora. Several species of passion 
flowers have been tried here but they do 
not seem to do well and die in a short 
time. 
Pereskia. A climbing, leafy cactus of 
which we have two species. P. aculeata 
and P. bleo. Both have pink flowers but 
those of the latter are finer, looking some¬ 
thing like those of a single rose. 
Philodendron. I have several un¬ 
named species of this fine Aroid genus, 
all of which are climbers and are doing 
well in the hammock. One which I pre¬ 
sume to be P. lacerum has large pinnati- 
fid leaves and is a noble plant. 
Retrace. A lovely, half climbing shrub 
with bluish flowers, very floriferous but 
quite difficult to propagate. There is a 
fine specimen in the grounds of the 
Royal Palm Hotel at Miami. 
Pothos. When established in suitable 
grounds P. aureus is a strong growing 
vine with very large, cordate thick, shin¬ 
ing leaves, splashed and striped with yel¬ 
low. It is a handsome plant and does 
best in rather damp rich soil. P. argyreus 
is a more delicate species marked with 
white. 
Pueraria thunbergiana, a popular vine 
at the north has never succeeded with 
me. It is no reason, though, because I 
cannot succeed with a plant that some 
one else may not make it do well and it 
has several times happened that after re¬ 
peated failures I have at last been com¬ 
pletely successful. 
Tecoma. T. capensis is a sprawler 
with pretty, deep green, pinnate leaves 
and heads of brilliant scarlet, trumpet¬ 
like flowers. When it is once established 
it spreads rapidly over the ground and 
throws out roots at every joint. It is 
perfectly at home here and may either 
be trained up a piazza or allowed to form 
a mass. 
Solanum. Two species are very fine 
vines with pinnatifid leaves and light blue 
flowers. In S. seaforthianum the indi¬ 
vidual flowers are rather small; in S. 
wendlandii they are sometimes two 
inches across and lighter colored. The 
berries of S. seaforthianum are brilliant 
red and handsome and are much relished 
by the mocking birds. One of these vines 
grows on my north piazza and daily a 
mocking bird comes for his feed of ber¬ 
ries, having little fear of the inmates of 
the house. 
Stephanotis floribunda. An old hot¬ 
house favorite at the north. I have one 
planted in the edge of the hammock 
which has run up a tall live oak where 
it opens each summer its lovely white, 
waxy, fragrant flowers. 
Thunbergia alata. A pretty, small, 
herbaceous vine with bright cheerful 
looking flowers, white, buff and deep yel¬ 
low, and each of these has a form with 
a dark eye. Along the edge of my ham¬ 
mock in a spot sheltered with other 
growth I planted seeds of these and now 
they run all over every shrub and tree 
and on the ground and make the place 
gay with their thousands of blossoms. 
This is “Thunbergia Nook.” T. fra- 
grans is something like T. alata but the 
leaves are heavier and the flowers larger 
and of finer substance, pure white. I 
have not been able to succeed with T. 
laurifolia or T. grandiflora, 
Trachelospermum jasminoides. This 
beautiful vine with its airy clusters of 
starry white, fragrant flowers is a gen¬ 
eral favorite, even with rabbits, for they 
have repeatedly eaten it to the ground 
for me. It is commonly called the Con- 
