The ss Grapevine 
VOEe3 MARCH, 1953 NO. 11 
ARBOR OF SEVILLE 
NEW FACTOTUM 
At the outset of our plant-of-the-month 
article we must urge you to erase from 
your mind the picture envisioned at the 
mention of the plant, ‘orange.’ Do away 
with the picture of the handsome round- 
headed tree which graces many a Southern 
California garden or which may be encoun- 
tered grove after grove on a Sunday drive, 
for the orange we eagerly present for your 
consideration is not a round green ball 
atop a standard trunk (though it could be 
so trained) but a glossy green pyramid, 
a shrub vigorously branched from the base 
up, fragrant with blossoms, and with the 
promise of a famous fruit: the SEVILLE 
ORANGE! 
Probably your sole encounter with the 
Seville (Sour) Orange (Citrus aurantium) 
is in a jar of tart English style marmalade, 
and it is this passing acquaintanceship 
which we would like to convert into one 
of lasting pleasure by providing you with 
one or more of these locally overlooked 
plants. Behind the English accent lies a 
lengthy Spanish heritage, for in Spain it 
has been widely cultivated and admired 
for generations since its arrival from South- 
ern Asia. In the United States it has been 
universally used as stock for the sweet 
commercial oranges (demonstrating its 
vigor and resistance!) and has been largely 
ignored by commercial growers, which in 
turn has kept it from becoming well-known 
in the home garden. However, as an ex- 
ceedingly ornamental shrub of upright 
habit, used singly or as a striking hedge 
(consider the effect of a bright green 
screen planting fragrant with blossoms or 
gay with brilliant orange fruits!) the Seville 
Orange can take its place at the head 
of the list of useful plants for local gardens. 
The hardiness of the Seville Orange is 
not the least of its virtues, for it survives 
temperatures that peril Ficus nitida, a 
(Continued on inside page) 
Hail The Aralia! 
Now Pseudopanax 
Aralias are certainly useful plants! Some 
species grow large, some remain small; 
there are types happy in the sun and others 
fine in the shade; several flourish as pot 
plants indoors. We're quite willing to ad- 
mit our weakness for the family—tact of 
the matter is, we have been pursuing new 
and different species for a number of 
years and with fair success, too! 
But to get down to cases, we were about 
to sound off about PSEUDOPANAX LES- 
| 
j 
ER 
SONI, one of several species which we 
intend to discuss in a series of these arti- 
cles. (Don't believe that slander about 
Pseudopanaxes being "“horticulturally unim- 
portant’ that you'll find in the Standard 
Cyclopedia. The genus is one of great 
variety, even within a species and is in- 
completely observed under cultivation here 
by horticulturalists and botanists. As a 
matter of fact, our subject this month is 
one of a group of Pseudopanaxes discov- 
ered on Captain Cook's earliest voyage 
to the South Pacific and brought back to 
Kew Gardens for study. As a breed these 
(Continued on inside page) 
