PARK AND CEMETERY 
17a 
HEDYCHIUM CORONARIUM. 
glass, or even warm, light cellars, several of the 
hardier Musas and Strelitzias may easily be kept, and 
beds covered with low growing variegated or plain 
plants of the group, and studded with such plants 
as Hedychium, Gardnerianum and its hybrids, Heli- 
conia, Bihai, Musa coccinea or Strelitzia Reginae, 
would be among the most attractive features of a gar- 
den. I may say, too, in passing, that no background 
can be afforded which will contrast with Monocoty- 
ledones to better advantage than Conifers ; and the 
Pinetum exactly needs such embellishment as the 
fine light green or beautifully variegated foliage and 
handsome flowers of this division supply. 
Hedychium has 25 species from tropical and sub- 
tropical Asia, several species being found at considera- 
ble elevations. The yellow and red flowered H. 
Gardnerianum and its varieties are Himalayan, and 
there are now several hybrids. The white flowered 
moisture-loving H. coronarium and perhaps another 
or two are also in southern gardens. 
Curcuma has about 30 species distributed over the 
old world tropics. Some species have brilliantly col- 
ored bracts, the winter blooming C. Roscoeana being 
one of the best known in American gardens. 
Zingiber has 25 or 30 species, Z. officinalis, which 
grows well south, being the ginger of commerce. 
Alpinia has 45 species in tropical and sub-tropical 
parts of Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands. A 
beautiful species with white, yellow and orange flow- 
ers is grown south, and in Florida the roots stand well. 
Thalia dealbata is a native of Florida, and the most 
hardy of the Maranteae. 
Myrosma, with three or four species from tropical 
America, is represented in southern gardens. 
Canna has 20 species and endless varieties. If 
someone would give attention to the massive large 
growing species and improve their flowers, as Crozy 
has the dwarfer kinds, they would do a service to gar- 
dening, for these fine plants hold their own with 
remarkable persistency in spite of poor flowers. 
Phrynium has 20 species from India, Malaysia and 
tropical Africa. According to the authorities, the 
plant in gardens known as P. variegatum, is merely 
a variety of the common arrowroot, Maranta arundi- 
nacea. 
Heliconia has 25 species, natives of tropical#Amer- 
ica, and several are magnificent plants. 
Musa has about 20 species, mostly Asiatic and Af- 
rican, but widely distributed in cultivation. M. su- 
perba, of the western coast of India, is a close rival 
of the better known M. Ensete. Several have finely 
spotted or variegated foliage, while others have splen- 
did flowers. 
Strelitzia has 4 or 5 species from the southern re- 
gions of Africa. The flowers are very singular in 
form, and some are highly colored. The stems of 
others are woody and the plants tree-like. 
Ravenala has 2 species, one in Northern Brazil, and 
the Guianas, the other is the so-called “travellers’ 
tree,” of Madagascar. There has been a lot of stuff 
published about it. The dirty water collected in the 
sheaths of its footstalks might be endurable in a pinch 
of desert thirst ; the plant doesn’t grow in deserts, 
however, but where water is commonly a-plenty. 
James MacPherson. 
CANNA IRIDIFLORA VAR EHEMANNI. 
