614 



CALADIUM 



CALADIUM 



As soon as Caladium plants begin to lose their 

 leaves in the fall, water should gradually be withheld 

 until the leaves are all gone. The pots should then be 

 removed to a position under a bench, and laid on their 

 sides, or taken from the soil and placed in sand. Dur- 

 ing the resting period they should not be subjected to a 

 lower temperature than 60 F., and kept neither too 

 wet nor too dry. About the beginning of March the 

 tubers should be started for the earliest batch to be 

 grown in pots. Arrange the tubers in their sizes, and 

 keep each size by itself. The largest-sized tubers will 

 start quickest, and it is desirable to begin with these 

 for pot-plants. Start them in chopped moss in boxes. 

 The tubers may be arranged rather close together in 

 the box, and merely covered over with the moss to the 

 depth of about an inch. The new roots are made from 

 the top part of the tuber, so it is important that this 

 part should be covered to encourage the roots. For 

 starting, a heat varying between 70 and 85 will 

 suffice. As soon as a healthy lot of roots makes its 

 appearance, the plants should be potted, using as small- 

 sized pots as possible. The soil for this potting should 

 be principally leaf-mold, with a little sand. In a short 



kinds are not so well suited for outdoor work as those 

 having green predominating in the foliage, but some of 

 the kinds, such as Dr. Lindley and Rosini, do remark- 

 ably well. Frequent watering with manure-water is 

 absolutely necessary to the development of the foliage, 

 both outdoors and in. (G. W. Oliver.) 



732. Caladium bicolor var. Chantinii. (No. 17). 



time they will need another shift; the soil .should on 

 this occasion be a little stronger; give a position near the 

 glass, and shade from strong sunshine. New forms are 

 raised from seed, this operation being an exceedingly 

 easy one with the caladium, as they cross-fertilize very 

 readily. The flowers, unlike those of the Anthurium, 

 are monoecious, the females ripening first. To pollinate 

 them, part of the spathe must be cut away. Seedlings 

 at first have the foliage green, and it is not until the 

 fifth or sixth leaf has been developed that they show 

 their gaudy colorings. Propagation of the kinds is 

 effected by dividing the old tubers, the cut surfaces 

 of which should be well dusted with powdered char- 

 coal to prevent decay. As bedding plants, the fancy- 

 leaved caladiums are gradually becoming more popu- 

 lar. To have them at their best for this purpose, the 

 ground should be worked for some tune previous to 

 planting out, with a goodly quantity of bone meal 

 incorporated with the soil. The tubers are best put out 

 m a dormant state, as then they make very rapid prog- 

 ress, and eventually make finer plants than when they 

 are first started in the greenhouse, as by this system 

 they are too likely to sustain a check in the hardening-off 

 process, and lose their leaves. The fine, highly colored 



It will be seen that most of the cultivated caladiums 

 are considered to be forms of C. bicolor and C. pictura- 

 tum. Only five species are concerned in the following 

 list: Schomburgkii, 1; marmoratum, 7; bicolor, 8; pic- 

 turatum, 48; Humboldtii, 57. 



A. Blade not at all peltate, obliquely elliptical-ovate. 



1. Schomburgkii, Schott. Petiole slender, 4 times 

 longer than the blade, sheathed one-third its length; 

 blade obliquely elliptical-ovate; midrib and 4-5 acutely 

 ascending primary nerves silvery, pale, or red; sparsely 

 spotted above, paler beneath. French Guiana to Para. 

 Runs into the following forms: 



(1) Veins red. 



2. Var. marmdreum, Engl. Blade dull green, with 

 brownish red nerves, bordered with yellow. 



3. Var. erythraeum, Engl. (C. Schmitzii, Lem. C. 

 cordatum, Hort.). Midribs and nerves red. I.H. 8:297. 



4. Var. pictum, Engl. With white or red spots 

 between the red veins. S. Amer. 



(2) Veins silvery or green. 



5. Var. argyronefcrum, Engl. (C. argyroneuron, 

 C. Koch. C. Schcelleri, Lem.). Midrib and veins silvery. 

 I.H. 8:297. 



6. Var. subrotundum, Engl. (C. subrotundum, Lem.). 

 Lf .-blade rounded at the base, or shortly cordate, with 

 white or red spots. Brazil. 



AA. Blade distinctly peltate. 



B. Lf. sagittate-oblong-ovate; basal lobes united for two- 

 thirds their length, or more. 



7. marmoratum, Mathieu (Alocdsia Roezlii, Bull. C. 

 thripedestum, Lem.). Petiole cylindrical, 12-16 in. 

 long, twice as long as the blade, variegated; blade 6-8 

 in. long, 4-6 in. wide, dark green, with irregular gray, 

 yellowish green and snow-white spots, glaucous-green 

 beneath, sagittate-oblong-ovate, the upper lobe semi- 

 ovate, slightly cuspidate, the basal ones unequal, one-- 

 third or one-half as long as the upper, connate two-thirds 

 to three-fourths their length : spathe-blade pale green, 

 2-3 in. long. Ecuador. I.H. 5, p. 59, desc. 



