THE KALEIDOSCOPIC CROTON 
WILLIAM JOHNSTON MADDOX 
Bewilderingly Brilliant in Variegated Foliage and Fantastically 
Varied in Form is This Showy Tropical Plant, Useful for Sum¬ 
mer Bedding-out, for Greenhouse, Porch, and Window-box 
S F COURSE it isn’t a Croton at all, as plant names are understood to¬ 
day—and never was for that matter! But Croton was confused with 
Codiaeum in the earlier days of the plant’s greater popularity, and from 
a “gardener’s” standpoint these gorgeous foliaged things are Crotons. 
All the same it’s just as well for the truth to prevail so, although “the trade” talks 
still of Crotons, nobody is fooled, and we all know that Codiaeum is at the bar. 
It’s just the same with “Nasturtium”, long the household name for the brilliantly 
flowered annual Tropaeolum (Nasturtium being really the Water-cress); and we 
still love to call the Zonal Pelargonium (though knowing better) by the incorrect 
name of Geranium. And so in all likelihood Codiaeum will long be Croton in 
popular garden parlance. 
For all their pyrotechnic glory—perhaps to some degree because of it, indeed 
—these plants have not been much in evidence of late, except in the greenhouse or 
in use for bedding-out in the warmer parts of the country. To be sure, they 
continue dear to many a city park gardener and they are oftenest seen in city 
squares in massed rectangular conglomerations of red, yellow, green, and brown 
mixtures—color without form, we might say. Florists find Codiaeums very use¬ 
ful for the summer window-box, and they brighten many a porch and entrance 
hallway where there is some appropriate place for their care in winter—for these 
tropical gems shed their leaves at a touch of cold. In the 
warmth of the extreme South, Codiaeums make as useful 
decorative plants as does the Rubber-plant in the North, and 
in a general way some of the larger leaved forms are remindful 
of gorgeously painted Rubber-plants. 
Even so far north as the New England states there are three 
months of summer—June, July, and August—when Codiaeums 
can be set out and enjoyed with an easy mind—and with no 
more care than many other bedding plants. 
In massed plantings, banked either in beds or against the 
house, Codiaeums give a luxuriant effect, distinctly tropical. 
The color variations are literally without end, and to the propa¬ 
gator chance is very nearly as profitable as design. The most 
skilful growers confess that when they cross-pollenize the 
flowers they don't know what they are going to get—and 
occasionally it is just a plain green leaf. 
Striking splashes of coloring in the foliage are, of course, the 
WIZARD-LIKE CHANGES OF FORM IN THE CROTON 
In both color and shape this group of plants is liable to infi¬ 
nite variation. Variety Eversianus shown in upper corner; 
Tortile with its twisted leafage just above; and Reedii below 
objective in the matter of breeding for new varieties. And in 
this the gardener has a wide field of possibilities, made more 
interesting even by numberless variations in the shape of the 
leaves. Some are slender, graceful fingers, others broad palms, 
sometimes crinkled and turned like a ram’s horn. 
C ODIAEUMS thrive on temperatures around 8o° and given 
that and a well-drained soil, the three requirements for 
success are plenty of water, food, and sun. They are seen at 
their best only after a summer out-of-doors, although as potted 
plants inside and in window-boxes where they get the sun, they 
are very effective. 
Probably no place in the country has a greater variety than 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture at Washington. The 
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