830 



COLOCASIA 



COLOR 



thick stems, which may be wintered over safely with- 

 out leaves, or at most with one or two, the stems, to 

 save space, being placed close together in boxes. C. 

 esculenta rests during the winter and is kept under a 

 greenhouse bench or anywhere out of the reach of 

 frost or damp. 

 All of the tall- 

 growing colo- 

 casias are of 

 the easiest cul- 

 ture. As they 

 are very rank- 

 growing plants 

 they are not 

 much grown in 

 gre en ho u s e s, 

 but are chiefly 

 planted out-of- 

 doors for sum- 

 mer display. 

 They do best 

 in damp rich 

 soil. The 

 dwarf species 

 and forms are 

 suited for pot 

 growth, but 



1034. Colocasia antiquorum var. esculenta. 

 (Caladium esculentum). 



little is seen of 

 them except in 

 public gardens. 

 Consult Caladium for further treatment. (G.W Oliver.) 



Colocasias furnish the much-cultivated taro of the 

 Pacific tropics, this edible product being the large 

 starchy roots. From it is made the poi of Hawaii. In 

 Japan and other countries the tubers of colocasias are 

 much cultivated, and are handled and eaten much as 

 we use potatoes (see Georgeson, A. G. 13:81). The 

 young leaves of some kinds are boiled and eaten. The 

 dasheen is of the same group. It has been recently 

 introduced from tropical America, and is receiving 

 considerable attention for cultivation in the South. 

 The tubers may also be forced for the tender shoots. 

 Cf. Bull. 164 Bur. Plant Ind. U. S. Dept. Agric. 

 (1910), and subsequent publications of Off. Foreign 

 Seed and PI. Intro. 



antiquorum, Schott. Lvs. peltate-ovate; basal lobes 

 half as long as the apical one, connate two-thirds to 

 three-fourths their length, separated by a broad, trian- 

 gular, obtusish sinus. India. B.M. 7364. 



Var. euchldra, Schott (C. euchldra, C. Koch). 

 Petioles violet; blade black-green, with violet margins. 



Var. Fontanesii, Schott (Alocasia violacea, Hort. 

 Caladium violaceum, Hort. C. dlbo-violaceum, Hort.?). 

 Petioles violet; blade dull green, with violet margins. 

 B.M. 7732. Multiplies rapidly by whip-like runners 

 and grows well in shallow water. 



Var. illustris, Engler (C. illustris, Hort.). BLACK 

 CALADIUM. Petioles violet; blade more oblong-ovate, 

 with black-green spots between the primary veins. 

 F.M., 1874:107. Very beautiful in masses, but fls. 

 have offensive odor. 



Var. esculenta, Schott (Cal&dium esculentum, Vent. 

 Colocasia esculenta, Schott). ELEPHANT'S EAR. Fig. 

 1034. Spadix with an appendage half as long as the 

 staminate infl. : Ivs. bright green, often 3 ft. or more 

 long, nearly as wide. Hawaii and Fiji. G. 2:62, 571; 

 7:44. 



affmis, Schott. Blade thin, membranaceous, 

 rounded-ovate or ovate, the apical lobe scarcely a 

 fourth or a third longer than wide; basal lobes connate 

 nearly their entire length, bright green above, glaucous 

 beneath; blade only 4-6 in. long. Himalaya. Not 

 hardy in Cent. Fla. 



Var. Jenningsii, Engler (Alocasia Jenningsii, 

 Veitch). Petiole purplish, with transverse purple lines; 



blade cordate, emarginate, with large, oblong or trian- 

 gular black-green or black- violet spots between the 

 primary lateral veins. I.H. 16:585. F.S. 17:1818-19. 

 Not hardy in Cent. Fla. 



neo-guineensis, Andre. Remarkable for its tufted 

 habit, the shortness of the If .-stalks, its short-stalked 

 infl., and the beautiful green tone of its smooth and 

 shiny Ivs., spotted with creamy white. New Guinea. 

 I.H. 27:380. 



Marchallii, Engler (Alocasia Mdrchallii, Hort. A. 

 hybrida, Bull). Hybrid, probably of C. affinis and C. 

 antiquorum. Larger in all parts than C. affinis, the 

 petioles pale green, very slightly emarginate, with 

 large, confluent spots. 



C. bataviensis=A\ocasia, bataviensis(?). C. Caracasdna, Engler 

 =Xanthosoma. C. javdnica, Hort.=(?). C. Mafdffa, Hort.= 

 Xanthosoma. C. marginata, Hort. =Caladium bicolor. C. monor- 

 rhiza, Hort.=(?). C. oddra. Brongn.=Alocasia odora, Koch. Tree- 

 like, the st. or caudex 3-6 ft. and 6 in. diam. : Ivs. green, cordate, 

 stalked, bearing peduncles in pairs in their axils. E. Asia. B.M. 

 3935. C. odordta, Hort. = Alocasia macrorrhiza. 



GEORGE V. NASH.f 



COLOCYNTH: Citrullus. 



COLOR IN FLOWERS. The range of simple color 

 among flowers is not very extensive. There are singu- 

 lar and almost unaccountable intervals in that range 

 where color is conspicuously absent in every genus. 

 Indeed, there is no such thing as a pure green flower, 

 nor a pure blue one, neither is there any flower to 

 match the remarkable blue-green or green-blue so 

 familiar in the plumage of certain birds; this has no 

 existence at all in the vegetable world. The range of 

 color, therefore, among flowers is strictly circumscribed. 

 A simple color is a hue not complicated with any other 

 tint or shade or hue. Roughly described, the hues com- 

 prise: yellow, gold-yellow, orange, scarlet, red, crim- 

 son, magenta, purple, violet, and ultramarine; these 

 together with blue, peacock-blue, green, and yellow- 

 green (hues which do not appear in the floral world) 

 compose a circle of color from which all tints and 

 shades are derived. Fig. 1035. In other words, the 

 admixture of white with a hue produces a tint, and 

 the admixture of black, a shade. Fig. 1036. A 

 reduction of the range of hues given above to its sim- 

 plest terms would comprise only yellow, orange, red, 

 purple, blue, and green, six primary colors. Fig. 1037. 

 Although pioneer investigators of the nature of color 



1035. The intermediate hues. 



resolved these six hues into three yellow, red, and 

 blue, the restriction was made at the cost of absolute 

 purity in the other three hues which they chose to 

 name secondary colors. There is no possible way of 

 producing absolutely pure orange, violet, or green, by 

 a combination of pigments. 



