t4 PRINCIPES [Vol. 11 bulrushes and the spirits sink soddenly gling with typewriter, scissors and low, I like to gaze upon this intrepid paste-pot. But at the same time, I dare botanist, this indomitable man radiat- hope that others will cotton to old Ek- ing a kind of ferocious determination man, too. There are two ways of look- and patently capable of performing his ing at him. One way is to admire his tasks despite any odds. That is the dogged determination so greatly that a only excuse for his presencein these yearning arises to emulate him and to pages: I have put him there just to be found in those same circumstances. pleasemlself, iri lieu of any cash re- The other is to thank one's lucky stars compense for this temporary descent not to be in his boots. Both ways are into journalism, that is to say, for eminently satisfactory, depending upon wheedling copy from authors and strug- how one looks at it.

A Walk through the Fairchild Garden Nrxou Smrr,pv

Accompanying photographs by the author.

"green." My wife and I never tire of walking who thought all palms were through the Fairchild Tropical Garden Some are so stately, so graceful, it is on a sunny day when a blue sky and a difficult to {ind anything else in nature few cottony clouds form a background [o eomparewith them. for the hundreds of palms in the botan- But whatever category a palm falls ical garden's large collection. into, I've never seen one that was so In a sense,it is like a visit to many objectionableI wanted to dig it up and tropical lands, for here are the palms toss it out becauseof its ugliness.There's of the world. Here an admirer of this beauty even in the scrub palmetto { Sa- great family of can seeduring an bal Etonia). If you have ever seenex- hour's stroll as many speciesas he would tensive colonies of this deep-green, be able to discover on a voyage taking trunkless palm growing on the floor of him thousands of miles across oceans a leafless hardwood forest in north and through the jungles, savannasand Florida during the winter you will never plains of the tropics. forget it. Several years ago a visitor, inspired Everyonewho walks through the Fair- by the collection, referred to the palms child Tropical Garden must enjoy its as the 'ogarden'scrown jewels," They collectiorisfrom his own viewpoint. are that, and more. They are living The botanist will have his own interests. jewels - if one finds it necessaryto He classifies the palms as he strolls make such a comparison- of fantastic among them. He notes the shapes of forms. leavesand the sizesand forms of flowers. The great variation in palms never The horticulturist is interested in how ceasesto surpriseyou. Someare scrubby they are grown. It pleaseshim to see "jewels." and could hardly be classedas a plant grown well, displeaseshim to Some are of unusual {orm, even bizarre. see a sickly specimen. Some are colorful - a surprise to those The landscape architect will see the 1. Speciesol Latania in the left foreground, royal palms (Roystonea regia) on the right.

garden from still another viewpoint. If ter acquainted with the palms, I am not he knew the architect who designedthis a botanist and therefore know the gen- garden, William L. Phillips, he would era and the species only in a superficial admire the way the plants are grouped; way. For instance, I know the difference the vistas which permit you to view the between a Sabal and a Pseudophoenix, plants from a distance, before you ap- a Rhapis and a Chamaedorea, a Roy- proach them for a close-up view. And stoned and, a Heterospathe, a Caryota the landscape architect will study the and an ; and I know the dif- palms as individuals, as candidatesfor ference between a l/eitchia and an Ar- some {uture landscapejob. chontophoenix. But don't ask me how I "botamze" Being none of these, I take a non- know. I could not the differ- specializedview of the palm collection, ences between these palms. enjoying it in a very generalway. While If I belong to any classification, I'm I like to read the labels and becomebet- a horticulturist. I do know when a palm PRINCIPES lVol. Il is in splendid condition; when it is well ducks which, in the winter months, are grown. I like to seea splendidly grown seenin rafts on the lowland lakes. The plant, one which is adapted to the soil lakes are also popular places for coots and the climate and shows it by its and Florida gallinules. Alligators are thrifty response. Many of the nearly sometimesseen sunning on the banks. 3,000 speciesof palms in the world are Two rare birds are frequent visitors, not adaptedto Florida. Many hundreds the Guatemala oriole and the smooth- of speciesdo thrive in the FTG, though. billed ani. The oriole is one o{ the most And, I'm not counting those which have colorful birds in Florida, while the ani' been in the ground only a couple of a black bird somewhat larger than a years, but refer to the species which grackle, is of particular interest to a have been planted long enough to have bird-watcher anxious to add another "life survived frost, monsoon-like rains and name to his list of birds seen'" long droughts. From time to time the big green and Many of the palms have been in the yellow macaws from the Parrot Jungle, collection since the garden was started about one-half mile distant, fly over to in 1938. These older specimensmake the Garden and squawk at you from splendid background for the palms that the tops of or palms. They like have been planted since. Some of the particularly to congregatein a gumbo- young ones are coming along rapidly. limbo and snip off the tips of In time they will take the places of the branches with their sharp beaks. I've older specimensowhich fall prey to di- seen people standing about beneath the o'ohs" "ahs" seasesand insects,and, in rare instances, tree as they express and as to lightning. they watched with upturned faces the Writing this, I find myseli thinking antics of the huge birds. along the lines that I think ds I walk My wife and I have formed the habit through the Garden, except the walk is of taking a route through the Garden leisurely and relaxed and anything that that we seldomvary {rom, especiallythe falls into view is seen and sometimes beginning. We turn right just after en- commented on. There are always dif- tering the main gate, taking a hard- ferent palms in flower or {ruit. The topped road which the tram usesfor the flower clusters can be spectacular in guided tours. size and form. And no other plants have Immediately on our left after we make more colorful fruits than some of the the turn is the large, red-trunkedgumbo- palms. limbo tree which the macaws like, and But there are more than palms in the just beyond is Plot II0 in the Fairchild botanical garden. Many kinds of trees, Tropical Garden's Catalog of Plants. shrubs and vines grow here. The hard- Here are speciesof Mascarena,Pseudo- topped road takes you through upland phoenix and the triangular-shaped.Veo- and lowland areas,past vistas and over- dypsis. In this plot there oncewas a fine looks, through rock gardens, flowering specimenoI lubaea, the Chilean honey- tree collections, cycad collections, vine palm, but it was lost to disease. collections,past lagoons and lakes. On the right is a narrow plot, between The Gardenis a bird sanctuaryas well the road and the stone wall, containing as a plant sanctuary. Bird-watchersare a variety of palms, including a number frequent visitors, early'of a morning us' of native Sabal Palmerro which volun' ually. They bring their binoculars to teered. Thesesabals have been growing study the birds in detail, especiallythe here since the time the Garden was 2. A plot containing sundry speciesof Thrinax and Coccothrinax. started. They form a shade and a palms do provide a quality which would 'obalance" screen, as well as a in the be a great esthetic loss if they were landscapedesign. removed. Some years ago, while I was director From here the stroll offers an increas- of the Garden, we proposed to remove ing variety of palms - speciesoI Butia, these native palms and replace them Washingtonia, Latania, Copernicia, Ai- with speciesof more valuableintroduced phanes, [/eitchia, Licuala, Thrinax, palms. But the landscapearchitect, Mr. Coccothrinax, C hamaer ops, Caryota, Ac- Phillips, was against it. He thought it rocomia, Phoenix, Dictyospenna, Or- "awkward would leave an hole" while bignya, Attalea, Ptychosperma, Liuis- the young palms were growing up. Such tona, Corypha, Arenga, Hrphenae, are the problems of landscape design, Cocos. and a good reason for having the guid- In an opening, at the bottom of a ance of a landscapearchitect. For these swale,is a group of four kinds of coco- PRINCIPES [Vol. l1

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3, Four different varieties o{ the palm, Cocos nucilera. nut palms - the Malay orange, Malay an authority on Cuban plants. He was yellow, Malay green and common coco- a long-time friend of Dr. David Fair- nut. Along the route, too, is a Veitchia child, for whom the Garden is named. Montgomeryana, named.by Dr. Harold He attempted to collect the seeds of E. Moore. Jr., in honor of the founder every Copernicia in Cuba. Some of the of the FTG, Col. Robert H. Montgomery. Garden'smost striking palms are Coper- It is locatednear a stonewall where one nicia species,including Copernicia BaiI- may stand to look down into a sunken eyanq named in honor of Dr. Liberty garden. Hyde Bailey, and CoperniciaTorreana'o, The Garden has a very good collec- commonly known as the petticoat-palm. tion of the Copernicia, most of them The petticoat-palmis so named because from Cuba. This excellentcollection of it holds its old leaves for many years, over 15 Cuban speciesowes its existence *Up"r"i"io macroglossa,see PnrNcrrrs ?: 140, to the late Cuban botanist Brother Le6n" 1963. 1967l

I I

4. Several speciesoI Copernicia, including the petticoat palm, C. macroglossa; two slender Veitchia sp. in bloom; and in center a specimen oI Phoenix Roebelenii. hiding the trunk and. reminding one of although some, planted 20 years ago, a woman dressed in an old-fashioned have not reachedfruiting size. I petticoat. But the Coperniciaspecies can There is a line specimen ol Coper- be unbelievably slow €irowers. In 1962 nicia Torreana in Plot I07 which was I I made a photograph of Dent Smith one of the most popular palms in the "petticoat" with two palms in his collection at Day- Garden until it lost its a few tona Beach. One was an Acrocomia years ago. When I walk through the aculeatanearly 25 leet tall which he had Garden and see these fine Copernicia planted in 1954 and another oI a Coper- palms I recall a trip through the Llanos nicia Torreano somelB inchestall which of Venezuelaseveral years ago. Great he had planted in 1956. Oncethe Coper- colonies of a striking Copernicin grow nicia becomeswell establishedits growth in the fire-sweptplains, and in some in- is much more rapid. The FTG has a stances they have been planted about number of fruiting Copernicia species, the small thatched homes. (Or maybe PRINCIPES

,.:l ,:.

5. Talipot palms (Coryphu Sp.) and royal palms (Roystonea regia) viewed froni acro,qsone ol the lake.. the homes were built near the palms.) one doesn't have enough lifetimes 'to The Llanos palm is Copernicia tector- grow them. I could not, at my age, en- um, bttt until recently it was known as tertain enough anti-statistical arrogance Copernicia sancta,e-martae. It is now to plant a Coccothrinax argentaia with in the FTG collection but is still small the expectation of seeing it reach robust even after several years of striving to maturity. But I have enjoyed this palm establish itself. in the Florida pinewoods and the Flor- One of the Garden's outstanding palms ida Keys, as well as in the Bahamas is a native, Coccothrinax argen.tata, the where it thrives among the dune scrub silver-palm, but its fronds are hardly so on many of the islands. Its ability to snectacular in silhouette as Coccothrin.ax withstand winds is remarkable. Fre- Miraguama. The Garden has nearly a quently its gale-tossed {ronds are seen dozen of the Coccothrinax. Some are standing out parallel to the ground; but such slow growers? like our native, that when the gale stops the leaves {all back 1967)

6. Speciesof Pritcharil,ia growing near the lowland section yet to be {ully planted. into perfect {orm as though they had o{ the healthy, well-establishedpalms in been touched by only a mild breeze. the Garden were blown down by the In general,the palms seemto be more high winds. The Garden's collection of resistant to hurricane winds than any trees, on the other hand, took a severe other trees. The Fairchild Garden's beating in all three storms, especially palms were hit by three hurricanes be- in the first one. It had been fifteen tween 1960 and 1965, but most of them years since a hurricane had hit the area suffered only super{icial damage. Ex- and a number of the trees had become ceptionswere the Orbignya and Attalea quite large. Several of these were species,whose immense feather-shaped broken up badly or were toppled. leaves were badly damaged. While the As already suggested,everyone who leaves of the royal palm were badly strolls through the Garden looks on the flayed and stripped from many of the palms in a different way, from a dif- palms, recovery was rapid. Hardly any {erent background. The more you know 22 PRINCIPES [Vol. 1l about them - their history, their bot- while others are native to higher ele- any, their uses - the more you are vations where the high moisture keeps Iikely to enjoy these remarkable plants. the foliage moist much of the time. And if you have seen them in the I remember some Years ago how tropics your memory is immediately reluctant Stanley Kiem, FTG superin- transported thousandsof miles away to tendent,was to plant out in the grounds a jungle in Central America, to a plain somevery fine palms {rom New Guinea, in South America or to an island in the for there was good reason to believe far-away Pacific. that they would not thrive here. The The less experience you have had seedshad been sent back bY Leonard with the palms t}e less you are likely Brass, leader of the Archbold Expedi- to enjoy them. A member of The Palm tion to the Far East. One of thesepalms - Society may find it difficult to believe was a new genus - Brassiophoenix that somepeople are capableof walking which the German botanist, Burret, had through the Fairchild Tropical Garden named in honor of the explorer. Others without observing any remarkable dif- were Ptychospertna specieswhich had ferencesin these plrnts. not yet been describedand named. Mr. I uEedto talk frequently with visitors Brass,a care{ul collector,had thorough- while I was director. The reactionswere ly cleanedthe seedsbefore sendingthem sometimesamazing. Some risitors saw by air. When some packages arrived "nothing" toihe palms. Otherswere sur- the seedswere already sprouting among prised to learn that there were other the moist sphagnummoss. palms than the coconut. I've frequently Under the protection of the green- heard peoplesay that they could not see house the Brass palms - as we called any difference in the palms after taking the lot - thrived. Then, guided bY a guided tour of the Garden.even after notes of Mr. Brass which describedthe an experiencedguide had pointed out locations where the di{ferent species the many di{ferences. were discovered, the thrifty seedlings But even after you have strolled were planted where they would receive through the Garden hundreds of times someshade. A few of them were planted "rain you find yourself discovering new and in the deep shadeof the Garden's interesting things about the palms. For forest." Every one of these palms has one thing, they are constantly growing thrived outdoors almostas well as in the and the many palm plots are forever greenhouse,Some have grown into fine changing, giving new landscapedimen- fruiting specimensand have been dis- sion to the scenery. New species,being tributed to members of the FTG. introduced every year, are planted out It never ceasesto amazeme how much for testing. It is interesting to anyone salt so many of the palms can with- who likes the palms to watch theseplants stand. A large number of palms have "take as they hold" and grow in a new been planted in the Garden's lowland land and in a different climate. which was subjectedto three hurricane You never know until you plant a tides between 1960 and 1965. Yet the palm at the FTG whether it will grow nalms selectedfor this area have thrived outdoors. Some refuse to grow because amazingly well, even though some of they cannot toleratethe cold, but a large them have beencompletely inundated by number simply can't survive the dry at- salt water rvhile young. Among these mosphere of winter and spring. Many have been rhePaurotis lAcoelorrhaphef, of the palms hail {rom the moist jungles. Arecastrum,C occothrinax, T hrinax, Co- re67l HOLMQUIST AND POPENOE:GERMINATION pernicia, Roystonea,Corypha, Pritchar' Garden, often leaving the paved surface "explore" dia, Borassus, Caryota, Chrysalidocar- to some area that has under- pus, Latania, Bismarckia, Liuistona, gone changes since we saw it last. And Phoenix,Ptychosperma. And many other we feel fortunate to live so close to this speciesare becoming establishedin the botanical garden where it is possible to lowland which, in another decade,will make this newly developedarea one of go at any time we feel the urge {or a the most striking sectionsof the Garden. walk and be assured that we will always We frequently walk a mile through the find something new and interesting.

GerminationExperiments

The Effect of Scarificationon lhe Germination of Seed of AcrocomiaCrispa and Arenga Engleri

Ju-tu le DIos Horltqulsr* ANDJonn, Poprrlos FarncHIr,r Tnoptcar GaRlrN, MIlrtI, FroRIol

Most research on the germination of Leon (I) had good resultsin germinat- palm seeds has been on African Oil ing seedsof two difficult speciesusing a palm, coconut, or other palms grown as hotbed with electric cableswhich main- plantation crops. Some work has been tained a temperature of 83o F. This done on ornamentals,however, and most same treatment was later recommended of it is reported in the journal by Loomis (3), Lothian (4), and Yo- Pnrnctprs. cum (5) for different speciesof palms. From the various studiesmade on the From among the various species of germination of palm seedsit is found palm that are difficult to germinate two that most speciesgerminate readily and were selectedfor this strdy. Acrocornia no special treatment is neededto accel- crispa was selectedbecause it is one of erategermination (I, 3). the most desirableof its genusfor orna- The methods described for accelerat- mental purposes and most of the other ing germination of palm seedsvary from speciesof this genus are also very slow simply removing the exocarp or husk in germination.Arenga Engleri is one ({leshy part of many fruits) and clean- of our most desirable ornamentals be- ing the seedto complicatedchemical or causeof its attractivenessand hardiness mechanicaltreatments such as breaking in Central Florida and California. ,4ren- the seedcoat with a hammer and treat- ga Engleri is notoriously difficult to ing the hard seeds with concentrated germinate. sulphuric acid. Kitzke (2) working with Copernicia got the best germination Experimentswith by scarifying the seedswith l0 per cent ACROCOMIA CRISPA sulphuric acid for ten minutes. Fruits were obtained from two palms. High temperatures have also been The first batch was {ully mature and useful in promoting germination. De beginning to drop. One hundred of these first fruits were cracked open and *Present address: Facultad de Aeronomia. Ma. racay, Venezuela. the kernelsgiven a r isualexamination.