174 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
they should be planted wherever palms 
are admired. In moist, rich soil—per¬ 
haps with a small admixture of clay— 
they will undoubtedly thrive just as the 
Washingtonias, from the same region, 
thrive with us. Only two species are 
known. 
Erythea armata, S. Wats., Blue Palm, 
California Blue Palm, in Italy mostly 
known under the name of Brahea Roezli, 
is a native of Lower California, where 
it is called “Palma azul.” It is one of 
the most glaucous palms known and de¬ 
serves its name, Blue Palm with perfect 
right. In its distribution it is strictly 
limited to the peninsula of lower Cali¬ 
fornia, making its first appearance about 
40 miles south of our boundary line, and 
ranging south to almost St. Lucas, always 
in the dry, mostly hilly and stony inter¬ 
ior, never near the coast. It is therefore 
essentially a palm of dry regions, con¬ 
trary to E. edulis, which effects moist 
canons. Under cultivation, the Blue 
Palms show a remarkable adaptability to 
better conditions, not even disliking irri¬ 
gated California gardens and parks, pro¬ 
vided the soil is well drained, and making 
a very fast growth when planted out. A 
specimen about 13 years old flowered for 
the first time in a Santa Barbara garden 
in 1895. It sent out three flower-scapes 
over 12 feet long, gracefully arching and 
of a feathery appearance, bearing myr¬ 
iads of exceedingly minute flowers. In 
California this magnificent palm is get¬ 
ting a feature of all the better gardens, 
why not in Florida? With a little ex¬ 
perimenting and coaxing it will undoubt¬ 
edly thrive. 
Erythea edulis, S. Wats., the Guade- 
lupe Palms, from the lonely and gloomy- 
looking island of Guadelupe, about 250 
miles south of San Diego, California. It 
was discovered by Dr. E. Palmer, who 
found it “frequently in deep, warm rav¬ 
ines * * * * It attains a height 
of about 40 feet, and 15 inches in diame¬ 
ter. Each tree bears one to four clus¬ 
ters of fruit, 4 feet in length and weigh¬ 
ing 40 to 50 pounds. The fruit is eaten 
by men, goats, birds and mice. In flow¬ 
er near end of March.” 
A recent writer states that it is the 
most elegant of all Fan Palms from 
North America—a fast grower, quite 
suitable to conservatories and the open 
air in the South, “where in a prominent 
place it is likely to thrive, also in regard 
to its fruits, which are similar in size 
and taste to prunes.” A peculiar char¬ 
acteristic of this palm is that the trunk 
is quite slender in comparison to its 
height and often is slightly bent at the 
base, so that it has nothing of the heavy 
massiveness of the Washingtonias and 
Sabals. The leaves do not stand stiff and 
rigid, as in other species of the temper¬ 
ate regions, but droop gracefully, owing 
to the length and flexibility of the petio¬ 
les. What adds much to the elegance of 
the plant is that the old leaves, when 
dead, do not remain to disfigure the up¬ 
per part of the trunk, but fall down by 
themselves. The flower stalks reach 
fully 6 feet in length, and they must be 
grand indeed, those huge bunches of 
fruit, quite black when ripe, weighing 
40 to 50 pounds. The fibrous expanse 
of the petioles, when the leaves die off, 
falls down in a sort of soft, thickly- 
woven mat—a splendid material for 
packing plants,—and it may also be used 
for other purposes. It grows abundant- 
