IXTRODUCED PLANTS AND ANBIALS. 249 



South American group of tree-loving Pliilodeiidrovs is represented by perhaps a 

 dozen species that arc among the more common cliniijing i)larits. Tlicy are 

 usually characterized by broad coriaceous, though often witli divided, leaves ami 

 are to be seen hugging palms, climbing trees and running over stone walls 

 everywhere about the city. The Monstera delicioca, like tlie foregoing, is a tree- 

 loving plant and is easily recognized by the enormous dark-green leaves that 

 are occasionally two feet in length and pierced by curious, large elliptical holes. 

 The flowers are small and betray the plant's relationsliip to the order Aracece, to 

 which great group the taro and the calla lily belong, l)y having the boat-shaped, 

 creamy -colored spathe. The succulent fruit of coherent berries requires many 

 months to ripen. But it eventually becomes a fruit a foot long by t\V(t indies 

 in diameter, resembling an ear of corn in shape and having a very delicate 

 tang suggesting both the pineapple and banana in flavor. 



The city abounds in ornamental shrubs. What it lacks in annual and 

 perennial flowering plants is compensated for by the gorgeous, highly-colorcil 

 and varied leaves of this class of ornamental plants. 



The Christmas flower, or poinsettia,-'- is recognized by the stranger in the 

 islands from temperate climates as a familiar hot-house friend. But instead 

 of being a scraggy plant growing in a tub, it grows in Hawaii in the open and 

 attains a height of fifteen to twenty feet. At Christmas time it is most con- 

 spicuous, lighting up the city with the splendid scarlet-red of the flowers, though 

 the so-called flowers are in reality a cluster of large leaf-like bracts that sur- 

 round the small insignificant blossoms. A white variety is also occasionally 

 seeu about the city. 



The ])oinsettia belongs to the great tribe of euphorbias and has a white milk- 

 like juice. The genus was named as long ago as 1828 for the ITon. J. R. Poinsett, 

 an American minister to Mexico, who discovered the common species now in 

 cultivation, growing wild in that country. 



Of recent years the beautiful Ixora has found much favor as a Christmas 

 flower owing to its large, showy clusters of bright-red blossoms and large 

 glossy-green leaves. The plants, however, do not confine their flowers to the 

 holiday season but generally extend their Christmas cheer througliout the year. 

 The species most common in Honolulu is a member of the typical genus in the 

 tribe Ixorem which belongs to the larger order Ruhiacca\ to which the cott'ee plant 

 belongs. The generic name Ixora is given as the name of a IMalabai- deity to 

 whom the flowers are ofi'ered in their native country. A mnnhei- of llie hundred 

 or more species belonging to the typical genus are occasionally met with in hot- 

 house collections in Europe and America, but in the eongtMiial climate of Hawaii 

 they thrive with but little care, forming one of oui- nidst attractive and con- 

 spicuous garden shrubs. 



The crotons of the floriculturist, so extensively ^i-own as foliaL^c i)hin1s in 

 Hawaii, are not crotons at all but C^odiaeums, and like the foregoing, belong to the 

 great order Euphorbiacece. The word Codiaeum is of Malayan origin, and it is 



'- Euphorbia pulclicrriiiia. 



17 



