DECORATIVE PLANTS 



of them are quite as attractive, in a different 

 way. Those who are fond of a change will do 

 well to take up some of these plants. After 

 giving them a trial I am sure they will be de- 

 lighted with them. 



At the head of the list I would place the 

 Aspidistra. Why it has never become more 

 popular with the rank and file of plant-growers 

 in this country I have never been able to under- 

 stand. In Europe, and especially in Paris, we 

 see it used in great quantities, and with ex- 

 ceedingly fine effect. It may lack the stateli- 

 ness of the Palm, but what it lacks in this re- 

 spect it makes up for in its profusion of foliage, 

 its rich coloring, and the wonderful ease with 

 which it is growm. For any one who can grow 

 a Geranium can grow the Aspidistra, and 

 grow it to perfection. Indeed, it requires much 

 less care than that plant. 



The writer has a plant about ten years old, 

 growing in a fourteen-inch pot. It has, by 

 actual count, over two hundred leaves, from 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches in length, not 

 counting in the leaf-stalk. The leaves of this 

 plant are all sent up from the roots, as the 

 plant never has any branches. In color they 

 are very dark, rich green with shining surface, 



349 



