For more information about the Friends of the F.I.T. Botanical Garden, write Office of University Advancement, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., Melbourne, Fla. 32901.

Founded in 1958 for the studies of science and engineering, the Florida Institute of Technology does not have a botany or horticulture department. But it does have the largest palm collection in Central Florida.

The campus was given the tropical look during the mid-1960s. It was part of a plan to lure Northern students South to the private Melbourne university with an atmosphere of lush greenery, said Jerome Keuper, school founder and president emeritus. “I wanted to make the campus look like Florida,” he said.

But the grounds were far from being a green haven in 1962, when planning thoughts turned to landscaping. Much of the land was barren sand. One low, wet area of fertile soil could be found at the northeast end of the campus, but it often was flooded by Crane Creek and Needle Palm Branch. The area did support the growth of hickory, maple and oak trees and cabbage palms.

First planted with trees and shrubs, the poor land produced only dust during the dry seasons. Keuper saw the landscape shrivel and dry. There also were the pests that fed on foliage and stems, contributing to the demise of many early ornamental plantings. But native palms were survivors and Keuper noted similar plantings throughout Brevard County.

Encouraged by the survival of palms in a variety of soils, Keuper added royal palms along the area that now leads to the administration building. Unlike the cabbage palms and palmettos that flourished across campus, these froze during the winter. After nature's defeat, “I figured I had a lot to learn,” Keuper said.

Could the Florida look - especially the palms he liked - still be added to the campus?

He needed a palm specialist, but it was difficult even to find someone who knew the plant names. Dent Smith of Daytona Beach, founder of the palm society, was contacted and visited the campus.

Smith told Keuper that palms should flourish on campus. What would not grow in the uplands would thrive along the streams. F.I.T. could have one of the best collections in the world - all but the most cold- sensitive would grow, Smith said.

Plantings began in 1968, with 300 of the native Florida Paurotis, commonly called saw cabbage palms, ready to plant.

When the plants arrived, many were falling out of rotting pots. Both men late into the night to make sure all were planted. Keuper said Smith crowned him the “Paurotis king.”

Touched with palm-planting fever, Keuper and Smith began hunting for specimens and quickly added the needle palm, Canary Island date palm and oil palm, plus members of several dozen other genera. The collection grew to become the second largest in the state, outranked only by Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, said Keuper. By the early 1980s campus plantings included more than 400 species.

Cold, vandalism and neglect struck. By the mid-'80s the number of species shrank to about 100, with 2,000 specimens. Many mature specimens were preserved, but the collection dropped to a respectable fourth among the largest in the state.

Smith died in 1985, and Keuper retired from campus life to Melbourne Beach in 1986. Their enthusiasm that made the campus a showplace has continued through a support group, the Friends of the F.I.T. Botanical Garden, said David Kershaw, director of information services and secretary for the group. “We want to make F.I.T. one of the world's finest botanical gardens,” he said.

Support for the gardens has come from F.I.T. staff and community volunteers, Kershaw said. Just over a year old, the organization has developed a master plan and now needs garden workers, fund- raisers and public-relations assistance to continue development.

Visitors find both young and mature specimens staged in a relaxing atmosphere - just the ideal setting for a warm, sunny- day stroll. Students can study, while palm enthusiasts enjoy the plantings that often are unique to Central Florida. The entire campus is open to the public, but of special interest is the F.I.T. Botanical Garden, the hub of the exotic plantings.

Encompassing 30 acres on the northern side of the university, the gardens wind through sandy, upland plantings of pines and palmettos, then blend into a moist hammock with streams and hardwood trees, complete with understory plantings. Growing throughout the gardens is the primary collection of palms.

Many people get involved in the garden just to help maintain the campus grounds and continue the greenery, but for Joe Alf, assistant director for the Friends Of The F.I.T. Botanical Gardens, there is a special reason: “I wanted to bring the tropics home to Central Florida. ” Alf recalls boyhood trips to the lush, green tropics. He believes the palms re-create this atmosphere on campus.

Campus plantings contain some unique species. Particularly unusual is the palmyra palm, which is said to have more than 800 uses. Growing 90 feet tall, in the tropics it is nearly as numerous as the coconut palm. It serves as a source of food, including sugar and wine, and contributes thatch and wood for construction.

The black sugar palm is a curiosity because of its dark fibers and the ascending spines that cover the trunk. Tapped for its sugar content, the palm also has ornamental pinnate leaves with silvery undersides.

The carnauba wax palm grows up to 30 feet tall and sports large, palmate leaves. In the tropics, the leaves are stripped for the wax that has been used in polishes, candles, lipstick and phonograph records.

Popular with a majority of gardeners are the palms that add the Florida look but are hardy enough to survive cold weather.

Alf said the campus is uniquely protected by buildings and woodlands. The plantings also are warmed by streams, so many cold- sensitive palms can be cultivated. However, temperatures have dipped into the 20s, giving most plantings a thorough test. Sure survivors include the saw cabbage, needle, Canary Island, pindo, date and cabbage palms.

Visitors also may be attracted to the gingerbread palm, which has unusual branching trunks and fruit that, when baked, is said to taste like the real pastry delight.

Alf said one palm that gardeners should try is the Key or peaberry palm. It appears cold hardy and has attractive, silvery leaves. Specimens grow up to 15 feet tall and produce attractive white fruit after flowering.

For those who can provide protection, often through container culture, there is a rounded-leaf licuala palm, an angled-trunk triangle palm and the fancy-leaf fishtail palm species.

Palms will be good in home landscape for the same reason they flourish on the F.I.T. campus: They require minimal care. The best time to plant a palm is during the warmer months, but the cold- tolerant species can be transplanted any time. Ensure good plant survival with just a few cultural tips for established palms:

- Water twice a week during hot, dry weather; less during winter.

- Mulch to conserve moisture and control weeds.

- Feed with a 16-4-8 fertilizer in late winter, midsummer and early fall.

- Prune old fronds and flowering or fruiting stalks.

- Correct minor nutrient deficiencies with additions of trace elements as needed.

The F.I.T. campus can be reached from Interstate 95 by taking U.S. Route 192 east to Country Club Road, which takes visitors through the campus and to a parking area near the botanical gardens.

[Illustration] PHOTO c: Canary Island palm is part of collection at Florida Institute of technology in Melbourne. TOM MACCUBBIN/SENTINEL