FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
133 
ent trees. None but the pistillate trees 
ever bear fruit, and they will fail unless 
there is a staminate trees within a reason¬ 
able distance. If you live near a ham¬ 
mock where there are wild trees you may 
safely set out a pistillate tree with the 
expectation that it will bear fruit. But 
if not, it is useless to look for berries un¬ 
less you have both kinds on your place. 
In some locations, shade is not desir¬ 
able all the year, or at least not neces¬ 
sary in winter, in such places a decid¬ 
uous tree may be planted. One of the 
very best of these is the softmaple, acer 
rubrum. This tree always excites admir¬ 
ation when in bloom or in fruit. It 
usually blooms in February and the fruit 
ripens and falls before the leaves appear. 
A close second to the maple is the 
sweet gum, liquidamber staraciflua. It 
is not striking in appearance when in 
bloom, but its foliage is attractive, es¬ 
pecially n the autumn just before it drops 
off. The corky winged branches are 
quite curious in winter when not hidden 
by the leaves. 
Of course those of you who live below 
the frost line have at least a few orange 
trees. If any of you are so unfortunate 
as not to be able to grow the ordinary 
sweet or sour oranges, we would recom¬ 
mend that you set one or more trees of 
the hardy orange, citrus trifoliata. As 
an ornamental tree it has one advantage 
over the sweet orange, that is the flowers 
come in clouds while there are no leaves 
on the tree to hide part of them. The 
curious thorny branches covered with a 
sheet of snowy blossoms are beautiful. 
Shrubs that will bloom all the season 
are most desirable. Where it is not too 
cold, the Chinese hibiscus has few equals 
for showiness, but thev are too tender for 
some parts of the State. 
Altheas, a nearly related family to the 
hibiscus, are entirely hardy and will bloom 
throughout the entire season. There are 
varieties of several colors, but not the 
range of shades that may be found in the 
Chinese hibiscus. I can especially recom¬ 
mend the double white as being the best 
of all. 
Tabenaemontana coronaria, that is a 
long name, but it has no common name 
in this country, so far as I have ever 
heard. Henderson, in his “Hand-book 
of Plant,” says that it is known as East 
Indian rose bay, quite as long a name 
and but little easier to remember. This 
is one of the most desirable that I have 
ever seen. It is very tender, easily killed 
by frost, but has grown at my home for 
about 18 years, without protection, except 
that a few times it has been banked about 
the base with earth, and it has not failed 
to bloom each year. When killed by frost, 
it sprouts up quickly in the spring and 
soon begins to blossom and keeps it up 
until cold weather comes again. The 
flowers resemble those of the cape Jessa¬ 
mine, (Gardenia florida), but are not 
over one-fourth to one-third the size, and 
are more delicate in appearance. They 
are very double, pure white and have a 
delicate fragrance. 
Bauhinnia acuminata is also cpiite ten¬ 
der, but in my many years of experience 
with it, it has not once failed to sprout 
up and bloom freely. 
The flowers are single, pure white, 
without fragrance, and from two to three 
inches in diameter. I have only had 
Bauhinnia Galpinii for about three years, 
it comes into bloom earlier in the season. 
The flowering season, as with the other, 
lasts until cold weather.. The blossoms 
are smaller and are orange red in color. 
Dautintonia punicea, known in some 
