lets talk 1960's "old school" palm gardens and gurus.....

[trioderob]

ok -

does anyone know about a person named James mc Currach who wrote a fantastic palm book in the 1960s called "palms of the world" ?

how about a Mrs Jennings who had monster Copernicia in Florida in the 50's ????

[trioderob]

SIDE NOTE:

its was funny reading him talk about Dypsis and how he doubted that they were any growing in the united states - yet he recognized that they would do well here.

the book is really substantial and was a surprise considering it was printed in 1960 !

Edited May 23, 2016 by trioderob

[DoomsDave]

Is this the one with Raphia towering above the little Ant-Man with a pith helmet (black and white photos)?

[trioderob]

yes - its black and white

[Pal Meir]

38 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Is this the one with Raphia towering above the little Ant-Man with a pith helmet (black and white photos)?

Here it is:

[trioderob]

thats it !

 

[Pal Meir]

And here are the monsters of Mrs. Jennings:

[Pal Meir]

And here some remarks about McCurrach’s book:

[trioderob]

bingo-

those are the Jennings monsters  - anyone know those folks ?????

[Palmaceae]

I have that book, it is how I got started on palms in 1980, great book. It is cool looking at the book an see how many palm names have been changed in the last 50 years.

[Cindy Adair]

4 hours ago, trioderob said:

ok -

does anyone know about a person named James mc Currach who wrote a fantastic palm book in the 1960s called "palms of the world" ?

how about a Mrs Jennings who had monster Copernicia in Florida in the 50's ????

Funny I just ordered this book online a few days ago. Very inexpensive used and I know I will get my money's worth!

[trioderob]

great minds think alike

[strandoo]

Like Palmaceae these were the books I bought when I first got interested in palms. I even had a go at growing the rafias but many reasons conspired to see their demise.

Regards John K.

[Pal Meir]

Besides »Palms of the World« which were written by palm lovers there were also botanical monographs on palms like Dahlgren’s Index (1959) with 412 (!) photo plates or the Anatomy by Tomlinson (1961) with 14+437 pp. + 9 photo plates. These monographs are full of informations also of greatest interest to the amateur:

[Pal Meir]

As an example plate 391 »Syagrus insignis« (< Lytocaryum insigne) from Dahlgren:

[hbernstein]

I assume that the Mrs. Jennings is Nell Jennings, who remarried after Robert Montgomery died. The Copernicias are (were) doubtlessly on the Montgomery Botanical Center property, her estate. 

[trioderob]

interesting story about her history  - a true palm Women

http://www.montgomerybotanical.org/Pages/history.htm

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Maybe its just me but all the time I have spent in Florida I never once thought it would be comfortable to ride a bike in a suit.