FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
159 
last named species are the finest of the 
genus in my garden. 
Cocos Meadiae, Hort. This name I 
apply to a very distinct, small-growing 
Cocos which was introduced by Mr. 
Theodore L. Mead of Lake Charm. It 
is a dwarf-growing species with short, 
much recurved fronds, about 3 feet long. 
The color is a very striking bluish-green. 
The young leaves when unfolding are 
provided with brown filaments which are 
very brittle and drop when the full 
growth is finished. The stem is short 
and stout. At present my two specimens, 
about seventeen years old, are scarcely 
more than 5 feet high. They have not 
yet flowered. 
Cocos Alphonsei Hort., the Belair 
Palm common in our gardens. Large 
specimens of this fast growing kind I 
examined years ago in the once famous 
grounds of the late General Sanford at 
his place, Belair, near Sanford. They 
were about 50 feet high with tall, slen¬ 
der trunks and rather small, thin crowns 
of leaves. At the time they did not 
strike me as particularly impressive, and 
I must admit that I was quite disappoint¬ 
ed when I saw them. It seems to me that 
this palm grows better on low, moist 
ground than the other members of the C. 
australis group. A few specimens in my 
collection, about thirteen years old, are 
not more than 3 or 4 feet high, though 
they look quite healthy. I think they 
are the least beautiful of all the varie¬ 
ties of Cocos I so far have seen. As the 
Belair specimens have ripened seed for 
many years, this kind has been widely 
distributed over the State. 
“Fortunately for horticulture,” says 
the late Mr. E. H. Hart, “there are many 
species of palms in existence capable cf 
enduring the asperities of winter in 
Florida without material damage. When 
these shall have been collected and nat¬ 
uralized here, it will be possible for us to 
achieve scenic effects in landscape gar¬ 
dening that would have thrown Charles 
Kingsley into raptures,” and I add, all 
other lovers of beautiful and refined 
tropical plants also. The species and var¬ 
ieties of Cocos described in these lines 
take the lead among hardy palms. 
The next most important group for the 
embellishment of our gardens are the 
members of the genus Phoenix, or the 
Date Palms. They are all inhabitants of 
the warm regions of Asia and Africa, 
and, while a few occur in swampy places, 
the majority is found in rather high and 
dry ground, some even in the driest and 
hottest regions of the world, where 
scarcely any other form of vegetation 
exists. About twelve to fifteen well de¬ 
fined species are known to science, and 
all of them grow well in our climate. 
They vary considerably, and there are 
quite a number of distinct local forms 
all placed under one name, though differ¬ 
ent in a horticultural sense. In the Ri¬ 
viera where most of the species are ex¬ 
tensively grown in gardens, and whence 
most of the seeds come, they cross freely 
amongst themselves and many hybrids 
have been produced. This also ocurs in 
mv garden, where most of the different 
species ripen abundant crops of seeds. For 
this reason the cultivated species of Phoe¬ 
nix are the most difficult to define. All 
the species are dioecious, that is, male 
and female flowers are borne on different 
plants. They differ from all pinnate 
palms in having the leaves folded up- 
