FLORIDA .STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
131 
ORNAMENTALS FOR THE LOWER EAST COAST. 
J. B. Donnelly. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I have been asked to present a paper 
on ornamental planting on the lower 
East Coast, but, as I am only acquainted 
with conditions and plants at Palm Beach 
and vicinity, I will have to confine my¬ 
self to that locality. 
As you are probably aware, Palm 
Beach is a strip of land lying between 
Lake Worth and the ocean, it varies in 
width from one-fourth to one mile, and 
consists of a rocky ridge along the lake 
front, and a sandy one on the ocean; the 
depression between is of a swampy na¬ 
ture. It has been filled in and drained 
in many places and makes fine garden 
land, but some of it still remains the home 
of the alligator and turtle. Along the 
lake front are the winter residences of 
* 
wealthy people who come to occupy them 
every year, and on these grounds around 
these homes, is where the plants and trees 
are grown that I will try to describe. 
The cocoanut palm (cocos nucifera) is 
perhaps the most prominent feature of 
the landscape. They grow here in large 
numbers, some of the original planting— 
thirty-five years ago—still remaining, 
beautiful trees fully fifty feet high bear¬ 
ing hundreds of nuts every year. As 
they are easily propagated, they are large¬ 
ly used as an avenue tree and for wind¬ 
breaks, etc. 
Several varieties of the Date Palm 
(Phoenix) are represented by many fine 
specimens. A good many set fruit every 
year which rarely ripens, owing to heavy 
rains about the ripening time, (August 
and September.) 
The Royal Palm (Oreodoxa regia) 
grows very well here. Many specimens 
are fully forty feet high. A few of them 
bore seed for the first time last year. 
There has been a great number of young 
plants set out in recent years that are do¬ 
ing well. 
There are not as many varieties of 
palms planted out here as might be, and 
I have no doubt they would do as well 
as those that have been planted. We 
have nice specimens of Areca lutescens 
and A. rubra, both varieties bearing quan¬ 
tities of seed every year. Latania bor- 
bonica also bears seed, Caryota urens, 
Seaforthia elegans, Pritchardia Pacifica, 
and the California palm, Washingtonia 
robusta are well represented. 
The socalled Sago Palm (Cycas revolu- 
ta) grows luxuriantly here, some speci¬ 
mens are eight feet high and bear quanti¬ 
ties of seed. 
We have a magnificent specimen of 
Cycas Circinalis, with leaves ten feet long. 
Pandanus utilis grows to a large tree 
with heavy branches and bears seed every 
year. P. Veitchii makes large clumps 
from ten to twelve feet high and holds its 
variegation well. When planted close it 
makes a fine hedge or windbreak. 
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