68 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



themselves, clinging, climbing, and developing their leaves, 

 and later producing their flowers annually with no assist- 

 ance from the gardener except in summer a daily drench- 

 ing with water, which they like, and in most cases, an 

 annual pruning to keep them within bounds. A selection 

 of species of the different genera mentioned should include 

 the following : Anthurium Andreanum, Epipremnum mira- 

 bile, E. giganteum, Monstera deliciosa, M. dilacerata, M. 

 obliqua, M. tenuis (Marcgravta paradoxa), Philodendron 

 Andreanum^ P. Corsianum, P. Carderi, P. crinitum, P. eru- 

 bescens, P. gloriosum, P. laciniosum, P. nobile, P. Mantei, 

 P. ornatum, P. Selloum, P. verrucosum, Pothos argenteus, 

 P. celatocauliS) P. scandens, Rhaphidophora decursiva, R. land- 

 folia, R. pertusa, Scindapsus hederaceus, S. perakensis, S. 

 pictus, S. pteropodus. 



One of the plants included in this list deserves more 

 than mere mention, and that is Monstera deliciosa. It has 

 stout clinging stems as thick as a man's wrist, and its roots 

 encircle the trunk of a tree like strong twine. Its leaves 

 are nearly a yard wide, heart-shaped, the margins some- 

 times deeply slashed (laciniated), the blade pierced with 

 large perforations between the principal veins. This 

 character alone distinguishes the plant from all others. 

 From the axils of the stout, sheathing leaf-stalks enormous 

 arm-like flowers are developed ; they consist of a boat- 

 shaped, fleshy, yellow spathe, inside which is a thick cylin- 

 drical spadix, composed of a large number of fleshy white 

 pistils, arranged spirally, with the short, thick anthers 

 between. This spadix enlarges and finally becomes an 

 elongated cone, about a pound in weight, green, not unlike 

 a pine-apple, and when ripe it is as juicy, fragrant, and 

 delicious in flavour as any pine-apple. The "pips" separate 



