492 FLOWERS OF GARDEN AND GREENHOUSE 



propagated by cuttings taken in April, inserted in sandy soil, covered 

 with a bell-glass and stove temperature maintained. They colour well 

 only when grown in a sunny position. 



Natural Order Euphorbiace^e. Genus Codimum 



CoDiJiUM (from Codeho, the Malayan name for one species). A genus 

 of four species of stove evergreen shrubs with the leaves magnificently 

 coloured and often of singular form. The flowers are green and incon- 

 spicuous, the sexes distinct, in separate racemes on the same plant. The 

 males have a calyx of five divisions, five small petals and numerous 

 stamens. In the female flowers the calyx, though similar, is smaller, 

 the petals are absent, but there is a three-lobed ovary with a three- 

 branched style. They are natives of Malaya, the South Pacific Islands, 

 and Australia. 



Principal Species CoDiJiUM PICTUM (painted). Stem 4 feet high. 



Leaves oblong, 6 to 9 inches long, rich crimson, irregularly 

 spotted and blotched with bright green and black. Introduced from the 

 Moluccas, 1810. The cultivated forms of Codiceum (usually set down 

 in trade catalogues as Croton) are exceedingly numerous. They are all 

 varieties of C. pictum. As this work is chiefly concerned with plants 

 cultivated for the sake of their flowers, we cannot aflbrd space even for a 

 selection of these. There is great variety of form with endless diversity 

 of marbling and mottling. 



The wonderful variety refen-ed to as the product of 

 one species is largely due to the popularity of the plants 

 in all countries where Tropical plants can be cultivated. In the gardens 

 of the Tropics they fill an even larger place than Aucubas and Laurels 

 do here. Many of the varieties have originated in European gardens. 



They require to be grown in a hot moist house, and to be exposed 

 to full sunshine except during the hottest part of the day. In winter 

 they require a temperature ranging between 60° and 70°. The most 

 suitable soil is fibrous loam to which sufficient sand has been worked in 

 to make it open. When grown specimens are intended for conservatory 

 or room decoration they must be hardened very gradually, or the leaves 

 will drop off*— the usual effect of a sudden change of temperature on 

 these plants. Small plants for table decoration should be grown with un- 

 branched stems, and are produced by striking the tops of leading shoots. 



