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Foliage Shrubs. 



No garden is complete without a collection of ornamental foliage 

 shrubs and the number and variety obtainable is large enough to enable 

 every possessor of a garden to make a selection to his liking. The part 

 that ornamental foliage shrubs play in the decoration of our gardens is 

 an important one. Take them away and the result is dullness in the 

 extreme. 



The judicious use of flowering and foliage plants in combination 

 gives a handsome and lasting effect with a minimum of upkeep. The 

 instructions given in the earlier part of this article regarding general 

 cultivation are equally applicable in this section. The undermentioned 

 shrubs only are those most worthy of cultivation. 



The Acalyphas are a set of ornamental and variegated leaved 

 shrubs containing many handsome forms. They are all of easy culture 

 and increase readily by cuttings. 



Acalypha Godseffiana. A dwarf bushy shrub from New Guinea 

 with ovate-lanceolate, shining green leaves with creamy-white margins. 



Acalypha Macafeeana. Is a garden hybrid having large red leaves 

 blotched with crimson. 



Acalypha macrophylla. Another very handsome shrub with 

 very large cordate ovate, russet brown leaves blotched with paler 

 spots. 



Acalypha marginata. Is a Fiji Islands species with large, hairy, 

 ovate, acuminate, brown leaves with a distinct margin of rosy carmine. 



Acalypha obovata. From Polynesia forms a very ornamental 

 foliage plant when well grown. The leaves are medium-sized, obovate, 

 green with creamy edges when young, changing with age to olive green 

 with pink margins and finally assuming a deep bronzy shade. 



Acalypha triumphans. Has large cordate, toothed, acute leaves 

 variegated with deep crimson, green, and brown. 



Acalypha Wilkesiana. Is a New Hebrides species having curious- 

 ly blotched red and crimson leaves. There is a variety of this with 

 rosy carmine margins to the leaves. 



Acalypha torta. Leaves dark olive, tinted green, margins cut into 

 blunt, oblong segments, edged with white. Eemarkable for its curious 

 contorted foliage. Numerous other varieties and hybrids are found in 

 gardens under different names in each, probably in most cases slight 

 variations of those already described. 



The Croton. Is the most useful and decorative shrub we possess. 

 The number of varieties obtainable is almost endless and the beauty of 

 their highly coloured foliage makes them popular everywhere. They 

 are in the first rank as pot plants, for table decoration or in collections 

 of other plants. Larger specimens are admirably adapted for growing 

 in tubs, and planted in the open ground in beds or borders they are 

 unsurpassed in beauty- 



The majority of the innumerable forms now in existance may be 

 referred to Croton pictum correctly Codiaum pictum to which section 

 of euphorbiaceae the crotons rightly belong. 



