182 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
most beautiful and useful of all the ipomoeas. It is par¬ 
ticularly valuable in the open air for rapidly covering 
an outbuilding, a wall, trellis or summer-house, and it 
will flower abundantly from midsummer till fall. In the 
greenhouse it will bloom the entire season, but it is well 
to cut it back rather severely in September to keep it 
within bounds. The flowers which are large, and of that 
pure sky-blue so rare among flowers, are produced in the 
greatest profusion. The propagation of this species is 
best effected by cuttings, as it does not come true to 
name from any seeds we have been able to obtain. 
I. Thomsonianum. —White Indian Convolvulus, the 
subject of our illustration, is a beautiful tropical species, 
recently introduced by B. S. Williams, Esq., London. 
This species has flowers similar in shape to those of 
/. Horsf allice, but larger and of the purest white. This is 
truly a greenhouse plant, but would, without doubt, suc¬ 
ceed well in this country in the open border. It has not 
yet been introduced here, but we trust soon to be able to 
announce it in our list of rare and beautiful climbers. 
/. Horsf allice, a native of the hot and moist regions of 
Africa and the East Indies, is one of the handsomest of 
this large and interesting family of climbers. It is ad¬ 
mirably adapted for greenhouse culture. Its leaves,are 
digital and smooth. Flowers large, and very freely pro¬ 
duced in flattened panicles of a deep rich shining rose- 
color. We dare not hope to see it generally cultivated 
in this country, as the love of flowers here is strongly 
blended with the love of gain ; and flowers that have not 
a marketable value have but little to recommend them, 
even to those who have greenhouses that are not devoted 
to commercial purposes. 
I. coccinea {Star Ipomcea') —Is one of our choicest 
hardy climbers, a rapid grower in any soil or situation, 
and bearing a profusion of brilliant scarlet blossoms, 
which contrast finely with its bright green and finely-cut 
foliage. It grows readily from seed ; in fact, the only ob¬ 
jection to this species is, that it is apt to become trouble¬ 
some when once established. 
Nearly all the ipomoeas are popular plants, especially 
to those who have an eye for gracefulness combined with 
showiness. 
ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 
M ANY people in their ambition to have flowers al¬ 
most ignore, if they do not wholly, a very impor¬ 
tant and attractive class of plants, quite as essential to 
the open border or the window-garden as the bloomers, 
and while many of these last are unreliable and incon¬ 
stant, the ornamental foliage plants rarely fail to charm 
us with their beauty. Some, it is true, will have two or 
three coleuses, but seem to have little knowledge or ap¬ 
preciation of a very large class of beautiful foliage plants 
far more desirable because of their rarity. In this paper 
we propose to present to your notice some of these with 
the desire that you may form an acquaintance with them. 
Bertolonias are very ornamental when one can give 
them hot-house culture ; they are rather delicate and not 
adapted for ordinary rooms. Van Houttii is specially 
beautiful with its leaves of a rich olive green traversed 
with large bars of magenta red and dotted all over 
with spots of the same color. Rodeckii bronze speckled 
with white spots, edged with creamy white. Guttata, 
leaves dark green dotted with rose color. Pubescens has 
light-green leaves with a dark band through the centre. 
Phyllanthus rosea-pictum is a plant of easy culture; 
it is remarkable for its variations of color, no two leaves 
showing precisely the same markings. Some of the 
leaves will be bright crimson, others cream-color; some 
will be bronzy shaded with crimson, some dark green 
blotched with rose; others tri-colored, white, rose and 
green or bronze. 
Another unique feature of this plant is that the flowers 
are produced on the edges of the leaves. P. latifolius 
is quite unlike pictum, the charm of which is in its foliage, 
for this produces on its leafless but leaf-like branches a 
multitude of little pink flowers. The name Phyllanthus 
is from phyllon, a leaf, and antkos, a flower. 
Colocasia macrorhiza, or, as it is frequently called, 
alocasia, is a caladium-like plant, very ornamental, with 
its large leaves splashed with white. The name is from 
kolokasia, the Greek for the root of an Egyptian plant. 
C. esculenta we find usually classed under the head of 
caladium. It is grown extensively in the Sandwich 
Islands for food, and is called by the natives tara, the 
root being eaten like potatoes and the leaves cooked like 
spinach. The negroes in the South also eat them. It is 
a grand plant for the lawn or for a large pot. Its leaves 
often measure four feet in length by two and a half in 
breadth. They are very smooth, light green in color, 
beautifully variegated and veined with dark green. There 
are beautiful variegated caladium's. and anyone who will 
cultivate some of them will be convinced that they are as 
valuable as flowers for ornament. Excellent has large 
foliage, with brilliant crimson centre and spotted with 
white. Major Benson is dark crimson spotted with red. 
Reine Victoria, green, spotted with red and white. 
The alocasias some consider a different species from 
the colocasias, but they differ very slightly. A. metallica 
is a plant of great beauty, with its large, thick, shell 
leaves of a bronzy copper color, with a metallic lustre. 
A. Jenni)igsii has the foliage heavily blotched with black. 
A. alba violacea has blue stems striped with white; its 
foliage is large, and it is a fine plant for bedding out. 
The anthuriums are strikingly ornamental for indoor 
cultivation and decorative purposes. A. Scherzeriamim 
is one of the most brilliant. It is of dwarf habit, beauti¬ 
ful in foliage and flower. The blossoms are very curious, 
