166 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY NATIVE AND EXOTIC By Charles T. Simpson Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: _soil is generally poor, but I felt that For 40 years it has been a life dream by proper fertilization it might be witll me to be able some day to live made to produce a finer quality of fruit in a land where there is no winter, and than that which grows in the rich soil where I might cultivate the beautiftl1 of the West Indies. I have sometimes and strange vegetation of the tropics. felt that the reIl)ark made to me by a A little over nine years ago I resigned Bahaman truck grower ·at Homestead my position in the Smithsonian Institu­ that "there is a hinsect here for every tion and came to Dade County, Flori­ wegetable" was true. And there are da, to make a home for an old man. sometimes mornings here in winter The piece of land selected for this when the mercury wakes up to find purpose fronted on Biscayne Bay, ill itself "below the frost line" on the face the village of Lemon City about five of tIle therlTIOmeter. miles north of Miami. It contained The clearillg of th'e land here is an some 15 1-2 acres; three acres of th~ excessively heavy and expensive task, front being low hammock or nltlck dynamiting, burning and removing land, two acres jo·ining this, rocky, trees, grubbing rock, getting it off the high hammock; and the rest rocky pine ground, and destroying the three or land. I was 56 years old and 11aving sometimes four"species of paltnettos as little spare money I put on overalls well as a variety of other scrub. And and a blue shirt and began the task of when it is all done the grower has a making a home in the unsubdued wil-­ waste of dry, sandy soil in which it derness. I chose this region for nlY is exceedingly hard to make tender home after studying Cuba, Haiti, Ja­ plants grow. I believe it to be an ex­ nlaica and the Bahamas. These is­ cellent idea when clearing land to leavo lands have the advantage of a more small pine trees and some of the low tropical climate than South Florida, palmettos standing to shade and their soil is generally richer, but I felt shelter the ground and· protect young that to them could be applie~ the line~ and delicate plants. The pines and from the missionary hymn, palmettos may be removed later if necessary. "Where every prospect pleases, One of the difficulties the grower has And only man is vile." to encounter is the frosts aQd occasion­ This region has its decided disad­ al spells of chilly weather. I have vantages to the grower of fruit and never been able to devise any means orn,amentals. It lies in the track 0'£ by which I could completely protect the West Indian hurricanes and its young and tender plants from frost. FLORIDA STATE HORTICULT'URAL SOCIETY 167 It is a good plan to make a mound oj. number of which are quite ornamental. dry earth around such yOl1ng plants, Within five miles of Miami there are say early in December, to be removed probably growing, wild to-day nearly as soon as danger of frost is over. This or quite a hundred species of trees protects the collars of plants and if or large shr:ubs which sometimes attain the tops be frozen' they will generally tree-like proportions. Most of these sprout up vigorously. As soon as most species inhabit the hammocks and in tropical trees and shrubs have attained many places they become veritable air a height· of six or eight feet they are gardens, being loaded down, even to not likely to be seriously ~alnaged the breakil1g point with a great variety here. of orchids, Tillandsias and other air It would be impossible within the pines, ferns, Peperomias and cacti. linlits of a paper like this to give any.. First among the native ornamentals thing like a complete list even of the should be mentioned the palms, "The ornamental trees, shrubs and plant~ Princes of the Vegetable Kingdom." growing wild and already cultivated South Florida is exceedingly rich in here. I shall therefore only attempt palms. No less than 13 species have to mention the more prominent forms been found growing wild in Dade calling attention to those that seem to County alone; another arboreal sa'\v be especially adapted to our peculiar palmetto, Serenoa arborescens being soil and conditions, and to other~ reported, so far, only from Monroe which do not seem to succeed. The County, but without doubt it will be paper will therefore be only a s0t:t of found in Dade County also. "first aid" to the cultivator. The Cocoanut Palm (Cocos nucifera) has become thoroughly naturalized on NATIVE ORNAMENTALS the nlainland of extreme South Florida This region is especially rich in veg­ and the Lower Keys. Some one has etable forms. In the pine woods the said that it is a "Marvel of Titanic greater number of the species belong grace," and no finer description of it to a warnl temperate flora, this being can be given. It is the tree of t'he poor almost its extreme southern extension. as well as of the rich, and every settler, A very large tropical element of the flora no matter how little improven1ent he has evidenly migrated from the West In­ makes, plants a few cocoanuts, that, in dies, the Spanish Main and Central a few years, will make his place glori­ America, the .seeds having probably ous. The young" plants are a little been carried on the Gulf Stream and tender and are sometimes killed with deposited on our shores during l1urri­ frost, but after they have begun to canes or high southeasterly winds. The form a trunk they are out of danger. seeds of a few forms may have been They grow everywhere here from the carried by birds or the winds. The lowest and saltiest marsh to the high­ region is exceedingly rich in trees, a est pine land and the seed from our 168 FLORIDA STATE HORTIC~LT'URAL SOCIETY trees will, in a majority of cases, gernli­ be improved by liberal mulching, by nate and produce other trees. giving it a coating of muck, and by If the Cocoanut is a "Marvel of fertilizing. Quite a number of thenl Titanic grace" the Royal Palm may growing wild in the swanlp just north of bE called "A Ma.rvel of Titanic ma­ nle were destroyed since I came here, by jesty." I know of no tree on the earth wood cutters. to which the term majestic can be Pseudophoenix sargentii was dis­ more appropriately applied. Unfortu­ covered some years ago on Elliott's nately it has been found that tIle l1ame Key, and it is quite abundant In places Oreodoxa, signifying "Glory of the in the Bahamas. It is a stiff, formal, Mountains" which has always been ap­ very deep green pal1n with pinnate plied to it, really belongs to another leaves and does well under cultivatioll. group of Soufh American palms, hence The common cabbage palnletto (In­ the name was changed to Royston~a. odes palmetto) is found rather sparing­ I never look at one of these lordly ly in Dade County and is always a trees but I am thankful that I live in striking tree, either when young and a land where it not only grows but is covered with the old split leaf stalks' native. Mr. O. F. Cook of Washing­ ("boots") or as an old tree with its tall, ton, who gave the genus its ne"v name, rough, often crooked stem ~nd globu­ believes that the Floridian form is dis­ lar head. It will 'grow well in all soils. tinct from the Cuban, and has called it Along' the shore of Biscayne Bay is Roystonea florida.a, but other authori­ a dwarf species (Inodes megacarpa) ties diffe'r from him and believe it to which is every\vhere mingled with the be O. regia. Certain it is that I have saw palmetto. In. clearing it is well never seen any of the royal palnls in to leave specilnens occasionally, as Cuba attain either to the' height or di­ they nlake fine clumps when given a mensions that wild or cultivated speei­ chance. mens reach in Florida. At the Royal Mingled with the last two is a dwarf, Palm Hammock back of Cape ROlna­ fan-leaved palm of exquisite beauty no, and on Paradise Key in the south­ ( Coccothrinax garberi) named for a east part of Dade County are Inany dear botanist who explored and collect­ trees which must be well o·ver 100 feet ed in South Florida. The upper sides in height. I never see one of these Ina­ of the leaves are glossy and a ric11 jestic palms but wh·at I feel as though green; the under surfaces are the love­ mortals ought to fall on their kne~s liest satiny or silvery color imaginable. before it and worship with bowed, It is rather a slow grower and never bared heads. The royal palm is 1110st attains any great height. It is found at home in low, rich hammock but only on the shores of Biscayne Bay. does well inl salt marshes, if not too On one of the Lower_ Keys and at wet and salty. As a rule it does not do Cape Sable is found an allied species well on the high pine land, but it may (Coccothrinax jucunda) which is mu,ch FLORIDA STATE HORTICULT'URAL SOCIETY 16Q like the C.