The Garden Magazine, November, 1923 
173 
ON THE BANK OF A BORNEAN RIVER 
Wormia suffruticosa growing along the margin of the stream with 
Pandanus kaida, the familiar Screw-pine of Christmas time, just behind 
and the Palm Oncosperma filamentosa lifting high its feathery tufts 
ony in the march of nature under the 
equator. 
Where the Tender “ Croton ’ ’ Becomes a 
Lusty Hedge-plant 
I N OUR hothouses we cultivate a number 
of plants for their variegated or bril¬ 
liantly colored foliage and among them 
pride of place is given to Codiaeum, Acaly- 
phas, Pandanus, and various Aroids. The 
Aroids are mostly South American, but the 
others are Old World plants. Codiaeums, 
familiarly known as “Crotons,” are among 
the gayest colored foliage plants known. 
The leaves vary enormously in form, being 
flat or curled and twisted like a corkscrew, 
the blade may be broad or narrow and 
some have two blades separated by a length 
of petiole. Yellow and shades of red with 
little or no green are the dominant colors. 
Of forms there are legion, but all are con¬ 
sidered to belong to one species, C. variega- 
tum, native of islands of the Pacific. 
Most of the forms from which the present 
races of our stoves have been raised were 
introduced between 1865 and 1866 by John 
Gould Veitch. In the tropics Codiaeums 
are the common hedge-plants, and one gets 
as tired of them as of Laurel and Aucuba 
in England, or of Privet and Thunberg’s 
Barberry in America. 
Another handsome foliage plant intro¬ 
duced from New Caledonia by John Gould 
Veitch is Acalypha IVilkesiana of which 
many named forms are now cultivated. 
The leaves are of intense shades of orange 
and crimson variously blotched. T his, like 
the Codiaeum, is abundantly planted as a 
hedge-plant or garden shrub in the tropics. 
A more recent introduction is A. bispida 
with green leaves and long, pendent, cylindric tassels of 
crimson flowers. 
A favorite plant with which Veitch’s name is associated is 
Pandanus Veitchii from the South Sea Islands, with serrated, 
sword-shape leaves each from 2 to 4 ft. long, pale green in the 
centre margined with bands of the purest white. In P. Sanderi 
the leaves are almost entire and margined with golden yellow. 
The Pandanus or Screw-pines, from the spiral arrangement of the 
leaves on the stem, are largely plants of the seashore and 
oceanic islands where they often form impenetrable thickets. 
More than fifty species are known, but only a few are grown out¬ 
side of botanic gardens. The fruit is a conglomerate mass 
often as large as a child’s head and usually with red or orange 
pulp and edible nut-like seeds. Flying squirrels, bats, monkeys, 
parrots, and other birds, are particularly fond of them. 
Associated with the above in our hothouses are Cordylines 
and Dracaenas, generally under the latter name. The Cordy¬ 
lines have foliage of scarlet and crimson edged and veined with 
white and are mostly derived from C. terminalis, wide-spread 
from south China through Malaya and much cultivated in the 
Pacific islands. These too are as widely planted in the tropics 
as Codiaeums and Acalyphas, and many of the finest sorts were 
introduced by John Gould Veitch. The Dracaenas have leaves 
in which the green is associated with mottlings of white, or 
yellow, and these same colors, with red, may also appear as 
stripes. 
VEGETABLE CHART FOR TAMPA AND SOUTHWARD 
Planting Time Through the Twelvemonth for Practical “Garden Sass” 
January: Beans, Beets, Brussels-sprouts, Cabbage seed and plants, Cauliflower seed, Collards, 
Eggplant seed, Irish Potatoes, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Mustard, Radishes, Rape, Spanish 
Onion Seed, Spinach Tomato Seed, Turnips, Bermuda Onion Plants. 
February: Adam’s Early Corn, Beets, Beans, Brussels-sprouts, Cabbage, Cantaloupes, Car¬ 
rots, Cucumbers, Eggplant seed, Irish Potatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Okra, Pepper seed, Spinach, 
Squash, Onions. 
March: Beans, Beets, Cantaloupes, Carrots, Cauliflower, Cowpeas, Cucumbers, Early Corn, 
Eggplants, Irish Potatoes, Lettuce, Mustard, Okra, Onions, Pepper, Pumpkin, Radishes, Squash, 
Sugar Corn, Tomatoes, Watermelon. 
April: Beans, Collards, Cowpeas, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Kohlrabi, Okra, Onion Plants, Pep¬ 
pers, Pumpkins, Radishes, Squash, Sugar Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes. 
May: Beans, Butter Beans, Cowpeas, Eggplant, Okra, Peppers, Pumpkin, Squash, Sugar 
Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes. 
June: Butter Beans, Cabbage seed, Celery seed, Cowpeas, Eggplant seed, Peppers, Squash, 
Sweet Potatoes, Tomato plants and seed, Watermelons. 
July: Cabbage seed. Celery seed, Cowpeas, Eggplant and seed. Peppers, Pumpkin, Squash, 
Tomato plants and seed. 
August: Beans (Snap), Cabbage seed, Cauliflower seed. Carrots, Cowpeas, Cucumbers, Col¬ 
lards, Eggplant, English Peas, Irish Potatoes, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Mustard, Onions, 
Peppers, Pumpkin, Radishes, Rape, Rutabagas, Spinach, Squash, Tomatoes, Swiss Chard, Wind¬ 
sor Beans. 
September: Beets, Brussels-sprouts, Cabbage plants and seed, Carrots, Collards, Cowpeas, 
Cucumbers, English Peas, Irish Potatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Mustard, Onion Sets, Radishes, Rape, 
Rutabagas, Spinach, Squash, Swiss Chard, Turnips. 
October: Beets, Bermuda Onion seed, Brussels-sprouts, Cabbage plants and seed, Carrots, 
Collards, Kale, Lettuce seed and plants, Mustard, Onion sets. Radishes, Rape, Rutabagas, Spin¬ 
ach, Swiss Chard, Turnips. 
November: Beets, Brussels-sprouts, Cabbage seed and plants. Carrots, Collards, Kale, Let¬ 
tuce, Mustard, Onion sets, Radishes, Rape, Rutabagas, Spinach, Turnips. 
December: Cabbage plants and seed, Collards, Lettuce plants and seed. Mustard, Bermuda 
Onion plants. Radishes, Rape, Spanish Onion seed, Swiss Chard. 
