THE PLANT WORLD LNDER CARE. 



357 



The garden, floriculture, domestic plants, suggestions for "the grounds beautiful," inexpen- ] 

 sive greenhouses, gardens for young folks, hobby houses in the back yard, etc. 



MAMMOTH CALADIUMS. 



UV DR. G. A. HINNEN, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



Our common Caladium, so-called by 

 nearly everybody, and mentioned as such 

 in the various floral catalogs, is not a 

 caladium, but a Colocasia, according to 

 Gray. Furthermore, the variety esculenta 

 being subordinate to the species anti- 

 quorum. 



Jt is a native of tropical America where 

 it grows along ditches and marshes, at- 

 taining a height of two to three feet ; the 

 latter figure seeming to be the maximum, 

 for the various authorities are agreed up- 



on this point. Gray speaks of the leaves 

 being "two to three feet long when full 

 grown." And our own local botanist, 

 C. G. Lh»yd, who has seen the plant in 

 its native home, assures me that it ap- 

 proximates a height of two or three feet. 

 I know of no example illustrating 

 adaptation to a changed environment, 

 and a response to cultivation so well as 

 the caladium. My caladiums are larger 

 than any I have ever seen, and larger 

 than any I have been able to find records 

 of. It is needless to say that I have been 

 exceedingly proud of them, and as I have 



THE MAMMOTH CALADIUMS. 



