196 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
atory prelude, we shall now proceed to 
mention a few of these easily grown 
trees. 
The “Spondea Dulcis,” popularly called 
“Otaheite apple” and “golden apple by 
the Polynesians called Hevi (pronounced 
Hay-vee). Should any resident of South 
Florida possessing a lar'ge yard, desire a 
tree which, in addition to its other virtues, 
would give much shade, he could not 
choose any better than this one. It is a 
rapid grower, spreads out well, leaves 
grow very close together, rises high in the 
air, and invariably makes a most noble ap¬ 
pearance. Once it makes a fair start, it can 
practically be forgotten, so far as any 
special attention is concerned. It will 
keep growing right on. Unfortunately 
its foliage is very dark, and casually 
looked at, is more suggestive of the 
somber foliage of austere and more un¬ 
kind climates. Then again, in places 
where tourists are expected in winter, 
and where residents generally wish all 
their tree and plant family to be at their 
best in winter, it is somewhat exasper¬ 
ating to have this tree three-fourths, if 
not entirely defoliated. On the other 
hand, when once it gets to bearing, it 
is during a large part of the early win¬ 
ter season, or early tourist season, as we 
say in Florida, that it is loaded with 
bushels of fine edible fruit. About twice 
• 
as large as a normal hen egg, with meat 
solid, like an apple, with somewhat of 
an apple flavor, besides something all 
its own, the whole covered with a thin 
rind, a beautiful golden yellow when 
ripe, the fruit hanging in great bunches 
on the tree, makes it one of those most 
noted, by strangers, and very much 
visited when the nature of the fruit is 
discovered by them. 
Nevertheless we stick to our first 
viewpoint—that of ornamental and com¬ 
fort-bringing. During the long sum¬ 
mer months of our Southland a well 
grown Hevi, creating the shade it does, 
will surely win the loyal love of those 
who have enjoyed the blissful cool of its 
environs, and seen from a little dis¬ 
tance, be it twenty feet, or a block away, 
it surely enhances the beauty of the 
piece of land it grows on. Further, we 
have always maintained that poetic 
fancy, as much as the actual, material, 
visible, beauty of form of a tree (any 
tree) should enter in to add its delicious 
tang to the pleasure of the Qwner of it. 
Without indulging in this fancy at this 
time and taking up precious minutes 
needed for other thoughts, might we 
not suggest how the owner of a lovely 
yard, who is taken here and there by 
the associations of his trees, might set 
finally in the shade o'f hi|s Hevi, and 
dream of yon perfume-laden isle in far 
mid-Pacific, immense watery wastes, 
and indulge his fancy as to possible and 
probable scenes under the shade of this 
tree’s sisters, as well as follow up the 
history of the one he or she possesses 
from, its original home to its new one 
in our beloved Florida, which it honors. 
But we are digressing too much from 
the subject of our paper. So we return 
to business. Another tree which should 
be very much better known in South 
Florida, and seen much more in public 
parks and private yards is the Ylang- 
Ylang. Like the Hevi, it will, after be¬ 
ing planted a few months, stand much 
