325 
Foliage Shrubs. 
No garden is complete without a collection of ornamental foliage 
shrubs ana the number and variety obtainable is large enough to enable 
every possessor of a garden to make a selection to his liking, ilie 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 
6X 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 ohovata. 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 
w r ith 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. Remarkable 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 
tJheir highly coloured foliage makes them popular everywhere. They 
are in the first rank as pot plants, for table decoration or in collections 
of oiher 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 Codiceum pic turn to which section 
of euphorbiaceae the crotons rightly belong. 
