SHADE TREES, Continued 
PONGAMIA [49] pinnata. Pongam. Tropical. Trop¬ 
ical Asia and Australia. A quick-growing tree of 
medium size with thick, handsome dark green pin¬ 
nate leaves. It has been found to be very resist¬ 
ant to high winds and is excellent for windbreaks 
and for street planting. The seed pods are short, 
flat, thick with incurving point and contain a 
single seed. 
QUERCUS [50] laurifolia. Laurel Oak. Hardy. Na¬ 
tive. A fairly rapid grower for an Oak, this va¬ 
riety is sometimes confused with the Water Oak. 
Suited to all parts of the state and adapting it¬ 
self to almost all conditions, it makes a magnificent 
round headed tree with handsome dark green 
foliage. It is especially recommended for street 
and lawn planting. Specimens are all field-grown 
and transplant better during the winter months 
when they are fairly dormant. 
Q. virginiana. Live Oak. Hardy. Native. A little 
slower in growth than the Laurel Oak, and not 
so symmetrical in habit, the Live Oak is neverthe¬ 
less the more permanent tree and a large speci¬ 
men cannot be exceeded in beauty and majesty 
by any other of the southern oaks. The foliage 
is thicker than that of the Laurel Oak and a little 
more grayish in tone; it is highly recommended 
for lawn and parkway planting where a perma¬ 
nent, hardy, evergreen tree is desired. 
SCHOTIA [51] brachypetala. Kaffir-Bean Tree. 
Sub-tropical. South Africa. A small tree, not over 
thirty feet in height, with pinnate leathery 
leaves, some of which are shed during the winter 
just before the bloom appears in the early spring. 
The many branched clusters of dark red flowers 
are very attractive to the bees and humming 
birds. 
SPATHODEA [52] campanulata. African Tulip 
Tree. Tropical. This is one of the very showy trop¬ 
ical trees with an erect habit of growth, large 
odd-pinnate leaves and crowns of large orange- 
scarlet, tulip-shaped flowers during the summer. 
It reaches a height of 60 to 70 feet and being 
very rapid in growth if frozen back will grow 
out again very quickly. A splendid shade tree 
wherever hardy and very lovely in blossom. 
S. Nilotica. Tropical. Tropical Africa. This variety 
of the Spathodea resembles the campanulata very 
much in all respects except size. Being much 
smaller and more rounded, it is better suited to 
lawn planting and the clusters of brilliant flow¬ 
ers being nearer the ground are more showy and 
more easily seen. 
SWIETENIA [53] Mahagoni. Mahogany. Tropical. 
Native. This interesting native tree makes a 
splendid quick-growing shade tree in the warm¬ 
er sections of the state. Generally considered an 
evergreen it loses its large rather thick pinnate 
leaves for a short time during the spring. Though 
it does not attain the height in Florida that it 
does in Central America, the mahogany is a very 
handsome tree that lends added variety to the 
tropical landscape. 
TABEBUIA [54] argentea (Tecoma argentea) 
Sub-tropical. Paraguay. A rather small tree with 
gray-green digitate leaves on long petioles and a 
most interesting light colored trunk. It does not 
seem to be able to decide whether it is a vine or 
a tree for several years while young. However, 
with age it overcomes this handicap and becomes 
one of our handsomest spring flowering trees. 
The golden yellow tubular flowers are borne in 
immense panicles above the glaucous foliage 
during March and April. 
TAMARINDUS [55] indica. Tamarind. Tropical. 
Asia. A rather large, low branching tree with 
rounded spreading top. It thrives well in rich 
soil in the warmer section of the state. The fruit 
is a rather brittle browm pod filled with an acid 
pulp from which a cooling drink is made. While 
it is grown commercially in India for this pur¬ 
pose it is considered merely an ornamental in this 
country. 
TERMINALIA [56] Catappa. Tropical Almond. 
Tropical. Southeastern Asia. Limited to the very 
warmest sections of the state, the Terminalia is 
one of our most unusual trees. The large leath¬ 
ery, rather light green leaves, that turn beauti¬ 
ful shades of orange and red in the fall, and the 
whorled branches at right angles to the trunk and 
with considerable space between the whorls give 
it a most interesting “pagoda” shape. Suited to 
either warm sections away from the coast, or 
near the salt water, it never fails to attract at¬ 
tention. The almond-shaped fruits are consid¬ 
ered edible but of no commercial value. 
THESPESIA [57] populnea. Seaside Mahoe, Yellow 
Tulip Tree. Tropical. Native. A medium sized 
tree with heart-shaped leaves forming a spread¬ 
ing top, and showy yellow tulip-shaped flowers. It 
is particularly suited to seacoast planting where 
a rapid growing, showy tree is desired. 
VITEX [58] quinanta. Hardy. China. Of rather re¬ 
cent introduction, this tree reaches a height of 
thirty feet and is considered quite hardy. The 
foliage is large, dark green and with much broad¬ 
er leaflets than the more common Agnus-castus. 
The flowers are inconspicuous but the tree is 
quite handsome and of fairly rapid growth. 
18 
