10 
BOTANICAL INDEX. 
are talking about the price of plants, let us look at the prices asked by our English 
cousins for choice plants. In William Bull’s catalogue, we find he sells choice Ferns 
from 8 to 70 guineas ($40.32 to $352.80), the usual price being 18 guineas ($90.72) each ; 
for Palms his prices range from 7s. ($1.68) to 8 guineas (40.32), the usual price being 
4 guineas ($20.16) each; Caladiums , old varieties, from 3s. to 5s. (72c. to $1.20) each, 
new varieties, 10s. ($2.40) each. In James Veitcli & Son’s catalogue, we find some of 
his choice plants at 105s. ($25.20) each ; some at 84s. ($20.16) each, and plenty at 48s. 
($11.52) each. Of conrse these prices are for choice plants, and can only be purchased 
by the wealthy, but those that are able to indulge in new and costly plants always 
have conservatories Well filled with everything obtainable that is choice and rare, 
and to correspond they seem to require costly plants on the lawn. However, it is not 
necessary to keep large plants to decorate the lawn, for well arranged beds of Coleus, 
Scarlet Geraniums, Verbenas and Heliotropes, or clumps of Cannas, Caladiums, and other 
large leaf and large growing plants, produce as fine effect as can be wished for. We 
do not name any of the Annuals, because they are so late in maturing that the season 
is too far advanced before they make any show ; but later in the season, as cool weather 
sets in, they will make a very creditable display. 
OLEANDER. (NERIUM.) 
Oleander is one of the commonest house or lawn plants to be met with in 
the Northern United States, and as it is the easiest and most satisfactory 
hard wooded plant in cultivation, it is doubly valuable to us at a latitude 
where choice evergreen and everblooining plants can only be grown and 
kept at a great deal of trouble and considerable expense. But in the South- 
ern States, where frosts are seldom or never seen, it would be time lost if 
devoted to so common a shrub or tree as the Oleander. The Oleander flowers 
freely during the whole summer, and if kept warm, moist, and in a light and 
air}' situation, produce flowers quite freely during winter. Some of the varieties 
are said to bear forcing remarkably well, if kept in a hot, moist and light greenhouse. 
But light and air are indispensable to the successful treatment of the Oleander , as well 
as nearly all hard wooded plants, and moisture is just as essential as heat or light. 
The generic name, Nerium, is derived from the Greek word, neros , signifying humid, 
warm and moist, in allusion to the habitat or natural localities where they were found 
growing wild. Nerium Oleander, and its varieties, are from Southern Europe and Pal- 
estine, where they are called Rose Bay, or Sea-side Bay, and grow to the height of 10 
or 12 feet, usually producing single rose-color, or occasionally white, odorless, saucer- 
shaped flowers, but from the fact of their bearing such large clusters they are ex- 
tremely showy. No definite date is fixed to the cultivation of the Oleander in Europe, 
probably owing to its being a native of the Mediterranean basin, but without doubt 
200 years may be assigned as the utmost limit, and perhaps half that time would suf- 
fice. No doubt the original specimens selected for cultivation were plants of the finest 
character, producing the largest and most double flowers; but since the perfection of 
the science of hybridizing, such improvement has been made in the old varieties that 
now we have quite a respectable list of choice and new varieties of colors. 
We are often disappointed with new, high-priced plants, while they are young 
and small, for after reading the nurseryman’s glowing description we are led to ex- 
pect something grand and wonderful, which should never be expected in the Olean- 
der, especially while the plants are yet small. So we may not be surprised to see 
flowers on small plants of some of the new varieties, at first single or with only a faint 
effort at additional petals; but as the plant matures the true character of the flowers 
will be more perfectly developed. As a rule, the pink or red varieties are the most 
double, while the white and yellow ones are only semi-double, consequently quite 
unsatisfactory. 
Nerium Odorum, the choice fragrant variety, is a native of India, where it is found 
in swamps or jungles, but is seldom seen in cultivation. It grows only about 6 feet 
high, and, like the Nerium Oleander, produces pink or white flowers; but unlike the 
Oleander, they are very fragrant. All the Neriums contain a formidable poison in the 
sap — a gallic acid — which is more or less extensively used by the native practitioners 
in the treatment of human diseases. It has also been introduced into medical practice 
in Europe and America during late years, with great success. In India, the leaves 
and bark of the root of N. Odorum are applied externally, as a powerful repellant in 
cases of tumors. It is also used in hot countries as a destroyer of cutaneous vermin, 
those scourges of the tropics that are so annoying to Europeans. But while it con- 
tains beneficial medical qualities, it also contains a deadly poison, and care should be 
taken to not allow even the leaves or broken branches to be placed where children 
can get them, for they are always sure to eat whatever they happen to pick up, and 
