74 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
Oreodoxa regia, the royal palm, 
grows ninety to one hundred and thirty 
feet, and is found sparingly as far north 
as Florida. 
The sabal palmetto we all know. We 
are pleased that the committee who dec¬ 
orated this hall so beautifully for us rec¬ 
ognized it as ornamental. The cab¬ 
bage tree, from its commonness, is not 
always appreciated. 
Melanodendron integrifolium, the 
black cabbage, is a very grand tree, 
eighty or ninety feet in height, with sym¬ 
metrical trunk crowned with strong 
composite leaves very much recurved. 
The Oreodoxa granate has withstood 
the cold, save in the Alaska-destroying 
blizzard of '99. It is by far the hand¬ 
somest of its species, and the name freely 
translated means crimson glory of the 
mountain. 
The needle palm is one of great beau¬ 
ty and symmetry for decoration. It is 
worthy of a place on all lawns. 
Bigonia vanusta is a rampant grow¬ 
ing tropical vine, with glossy dark-green 
foliage. It is the best of our tropicals 
in leaf and flower. It is a flame of flow¬ 
ers for fully two months N in its season. 
Its common name, flame urn, well de¬ 
scribes it. 
REPORT OF MRS. FLORENCE P. HADEN. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
The conditions in the extreme south¬ 
ern part of Florida are very different 
from the rest of the State. We have a 
great many trees and plants that have 
not been successfully grown in the open 
elsewhere. The committees on orna¬ 
mentals of late years have confined 
themselves to trees and plants that stand 
frost. But as it has been shown that 
many tropical plants adapt themselves to 
moderate changes of climate, I will men¬ 
tion a few that are very ornamental and 
that would well repay the effort if they 
can be grown. 
Several of our best fruit trees are as 
ornamental as most trees grown only for 
their beauty. The mango is a beautiful 
shade tree, remaining green all the year, 
as do the roseapple, canistelle, avocado, 
loquat, seagrape, tamarind, olive and 
others. 
Among the purely ornamental trees, 
the royal poinciana perhaps ranks first, 
especially when it is one gorgeous mass 
of scarlet flowers in a bed of fern-like 
leaves. Another handsome flowering 
tree is the geiger, but I do not believe it 
would stand much frost. Of course, the 
oleanders, hybiscus, the numerous fo¬ 
liage plants and crotons which grow so 
well in our section deserve mention and 
should be utilized, even where they re¬ 
quire a little protection. The many 
stone fences in our rocky country would 
be beautiful if covered with vines, and 
there are a great variety that grow well. 
The Cherokee rose and other climbing 
roses, the sweet scented honeysuckles, 
the alamanda that always attracts atten¬ 
tion from strangers, the star or wild jes¬ 
samine and many others. 
Mr. Davis, in Cape Florida, has made 
a specialty of palms, and his beautiful 
grounds show that he has chosen wisely. 
Of course, the most handsome of these 
