FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
169 
Chamaerops. 
Trachy carpus. 
Livistonia. 
Rhapis. 
Erythea. 
Diplothemiuni. 
Jubaea. 
Though growing so easily the fact 
must always be remembered that while 
many palms will bear much neglect, 
yet the best results are only to be had 
by giving them plenty of nourishment 
and good cultivation. If this is kept in 
mind and carried out, most members 
of these genera will grow well here. 
Chamaerops humilis, Linn., the Eur¬ 
opean Fan Palm, is the only species of 
the genus, but it is split up in quite a 
number of more or less distinct varie¬ 
ties. It grows wild in Sicily, Spain and 
Northern Africa, where it is found in 
dry, uncultivated, sandy tracts in the 
same way as our native Saw Palmetto. 
This palm and its various forms are 
very distinct and beautiful and are well 
adapted to our soil and climate. They 
all are excellent palms for all parts of 
Florida and along the Gulf Coast west 
to Texas. They grow well and rapidly 
in good soil. I have a few specimens 
that are pictures of beauty, but they 
were cared for, while others that re¬ 
mained in the nursery rows are small 
and poor. All the varieties sucker very 
much. These should be removed if t 
single-stemmed specimen is desired. If 
carefully taken off they can be use 1 
for propagation. Mr. Theo. L. Mead 
has such a single-stemmed European 
Fan Palm with a beautiful round leaf- 
crown about 15 feet in height. In Feb¬ 
ruary, my plants begin to bloom, and 
this is noticed with surprise even by 
people who do not care for plants that 
do not furnish a money crop. We see 
now, densely attached to the stem, 
bright yellow sponge-like masses, 
looking like a large fungus. I grow 
the following varieties: 
Chamaerops humilis elegans, tufted, 
the stems growing about five feet high. 
Leaves very soft on long petioles 
which are, like all the varieties, pro¬ 
vided with short spines. 
Ch. h. argentea, with glaucous, 
scurfy foliage, deep green above, sil¬ 
very beneath. 
Ch. h. macrocarpa with black spines 
along the leaf-stems. 
Ch. h. arborescens, growing much 
taller than the other kinds. 
C. h. tomentosa, covered with a 
whitish powder. All these local forms 
or garden varieties are very elegant, 
and should be largely planted. They 
form fine groups by themselves or in 
connection with other • small palms. 
They do not always come true from 
seed. The best way is to propa¬ 
gate them from suckers, which appear 
numerously around the base of the 
stem. All grow very well on high, 
dry pine land, in fact they do better 
here than in moist black soil. 
The genus Trachycarpus consists of 
four species of hardy fan-leaved palms, 
two of them being indigenous to the 
Himalayan region, and two are found, 
respectively, in China and Japan. 
The last two have fine polished 
trunks, while the Himalayan kinds 
have their stems clothed with the 
old leaf-sheath. I have never seen 
the latter in cultivation in Florida, 
