AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF THE 



STRAITS 



AND 



FEDERATED MALAY STATES. 



Xo. 7.] JULY, 1905. [Vol. IV. 



NOTES ON THE COLLECTION OF AROIDS 

 CULTIVATED IN THE BOTANIC 

 GARDENS, SINGAPORE. 



Aroids. 



Cultivation. — Aroids, as cultivated plants, are chiefly known as 

 ornamental foliage plants, and as such many are very popular 

 among horticulturists. Especially useful as pot plants for the house 

 and verandah with their noble foliage, sometimes beautifully varie- 

 gated, and usually very easy of cultivation, some at least are to be 

 found in all gardens of the East. A smaller number belonging to 

 the genera Colocasia, Alocasia, Xanthosoma and Amorphophallas, are 

 commonly cultivated by natives for their edible tubers or rhizomes 

 and two at least Colocasia antiquorum and the aquatic Pistia stra- 

 iiotcs form a large part of the food of the Chinese pig, for which 

 they are largely cultivated. 



The grassy leaved Jeringu or Sweet Flag, Acorus Calamus, a na- 

 tive of the North temperate region, which has been widely spread all 

 over the world, is cultivated in most villages for its aromatic rhizome, 

 formerly in great repute as a drug, and still an important article of 

 the native Pharmacopoeia. It is cultivated in ditches or damp 

 spots, and grows very readily. It seldom produces flower here, but 

 on one occasion, I found a number of plants producing the thick 

 spike of green flowers, from the leaf -like flat stem. 



Aquatic Aroids. 



These aroids require to be grown entirely in water either in a 

 tank, where the water from time to time is changed, or in a pool 

 or slow-running stream. The following are the chief kinds: — 

 Cryptocoryne, small aquatic aroids, with floating leaves (except one 

 species) usually found in masses in forest streams. The spathes 

 have long tubes, which rise to the surface, and project above it 



