148 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Cycas circinalis, I had the impression 
of being in a fairyland. The trunks of 
most of these palms were densely cov¬ 
ered with conspicuous tropical creep¬ 
ers, particularly philodendrons, an- 
thuriums, Monstera deliciosa, Pothos 
aurea and other arads. Underneath 
them were fine masses of the pretty 
flowering banana (Musa coccinea), al¬ 
most always in bloom and extremely 
showy; of garland flowers (Hedyc.hium 
Gardnerianum), of Pandanus Veitchii 
and P. caricosus, thickets of Bamboo 
Palms (Rliapis flabelliformis and Rh. 
humilis), clumps of fancy-leaved Cala- 
diums, spider lilies (Hymenocallis) and 
crinums, exquisite specimens of Ma- 
ranta zebrina, Phyllotaenium Lindeni, 
various Alocasias and of ferns and sel- 
aginellas. How often have I feasted 
my eyes on these tropical landscape 
idyls! How charmingly was Nature in 
her poetic beauty copied here by the 
artistic hand of the landscape 
gardener! There is no doubt that in 
our Florida gardens similar effects can 
be obtained by judicious planting—in¬ 
deed they have been obtained in many 
of our gardens. We have a large 
assemblage of highly colored and 
beautiful leaved plants and tropi¬ 
cal flowers at our command which 
form charming adjuncts to our garden 
palms, an advantage not found in any 
other part of our country, and we 
should make extensive use of them. 
Though mainly inhabitants of the 
equatorial regions of both hemis¬ 
pheres, there are quite a number of 
palms growing in high altitudes or 
overstepping their northern or south¬ 
ern limit. About 1,200 different spe¬ 
cies are known to science, their great¬ 
est abundance having been recorded 
by naturalists to be in the Amazon val¬ 
ley and adjacent regions. About 14 
species are indigenous to Florida. One 
is found in California and there are sev¬ 
eral species occurring as far north as 
South Carolina. Many of the strictly 
tropical palms thrive splendidly in 
South Florida, while many of the sub¬ 
tropical species find a congenial home 
all along the gulf coast. 
While I have seen grand specimens 
of the Canary Island Date Palm and 
the Cabbage Palmetto in New Orleans, 
it can be safely said that extensive col¬ 
lections can only be formed in Florida 
and California. These two states, 
however, have a very different climate. 
Florida is rather humid, but the soil is 
usually light and not rich, while Cali¬ 
fornia has a dry climate and a very 
heavy, rich soil. Florida has, during 
the summer, heavy rains, while in Cal¬ 
ifornia no rain falls during this season. 
For this reason it is evident that many 
palms, growing well in Florida, cannot 
be grown successfully in California and 
vice versa. Howeas (Kentias) and 
Arecas do very well in Southern Cali¬ 
fornia, but they are no success in Flor¬ 
ida, even under the most favorable 
conditions. On the other hand, such 
glorious palms as the Cocoanut, the 
different Royal Palms, Acrocomia To- 
tai and numerous other species do not 
seem to thrive at all in California. The 
richest collections of palms in the lat¬ 
ter state are found in Santa Barbara, 
Pasadena and Los Angeles. 
In our own state the late Mr. Ed¬ 
mund H. Hart, of Federal Point, has 
