The Garden Magazine, February, 1924 
357 
Calaihea Veitchiayia with leaf-blades 14 inches long and 9 inches broad on erect petioles 1 2 ft. 
tall. From the thickened rootstock of Maranta arundinacea West Indian arrowroot is obtained 
by grinding and washing to free the starch. But from a garden standpoint the most important 
American genus of this group is Canna, from the various species of which have been derived 
the wonderful race of Cannas our gardens boast to-day. 1 he wild types are very ordinary 
looking plants with red or yellow flowers and it is difficult to realize that they could have 
produced by hybridization and selection the brilliantly colored plants we know as Cannas. 
The common C. indica, now naturalized in many parts of the tropics of both hemispheres, is 
familiarly known as Indianshot from its hard, small, round seeds. 
One of the most gorgeous flowering plants of our southern gardens is the Poinsettia ( Euphorbia 
pulcherrima) which is a gift of Mexico. The so-called flower of this plant is really an in¬ 
florescence of many flowers, and the showy part is the surrounding whorl of scarlet bracts. 
Familiar as we are with this plant in our greenhouses and florist shops, its real size and 
brilliancy is best seen in tropical lands. Quite naturally such an exceptionally showy 
plant is abundantly planted throughout hot countries. It is often used as a hedge-plant 
though more usually it is accommodated in beds and borders. The finest I have ever seen 
grew in the Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. 
A pretty flowering plant is Amasonia punicea, native of British Guiana in which each 
shoot terminates in a raceme of many white tubular flowers each an inch long and subtended 
by a bright red bract which persists for a couple of months after the flowers have fallen. 
Very pleasing, too, are the various species of Aphelandra, native of Brazil, Peru, and else¬ 
where. Among the best are A. nitens, with dark, lustrous green leaves and terminal spikes of 
orange-scarlet flowers and A. variegata whose large orange-yellow bracts, from which bright 
yellow flowers protrude, are closely imbricated and form a stout spike resembling a fir-cone. 
Closely related is the genus Sanchezia from Ecuador, of which one of the best known is S . 
nobilis introduced to gardens in 1863. This has clear yellow flowers in dense terminal racemes 
with bright red bracts. The form variegata with the midrib and primary veins of the leaf 
colored yellow is more generally cultivated than the type. Even finer is A. longiflora with 
rich vinous-purple tubular flowers in drooping panicles. 
A useful greenhouse plant is Streptosolen Jamesonii from the mountains of northern Peru 
■and Colombia where it was discovered by William Lobb in 1846. It has orange colored 
flowers and may be grown either as a bushy plant in pots or as a climber. Very handsome 
too, are the various species of Tibouchina with their broad dark blue to violet-purple blossoms 
of which T. macrantha is perhaps the most widely grown. 
Popular Plants Which Furnish Food 
T HE familiar Nasturtium or Indian Cress of our gardens ( Tropaeolum majus and T. minus) 
are natives of South America. They are much used as annuals wherever gardening is 
practised, and in places their buds.and young fruits are employed as a condiment instead of 
capers. There are several other species, of which mention may be made: T. umbellatum 
with clustered not solitary flowers; and T. violaeflorum with blue flowers and tuberous 
roots; another species ( T. tu¬ 
berosum) furnishes a farina from 
the tubers which mixed with 
molasses is made into a jelly 
and eaten by Peruvian Indians. 
The gem of the genus is T. 
speciosum which is native of 
Chile. 
Our greenhouse Fuchsias are 
largely the progeny of F. spe- 
ciosa which is supposed to be a 
hybrid between F. magellanica 
and F.fulgens. The first-named 
is native of Peru and south¬ 
ward and is said to have been 
introduced to Kew Gardens in 
1788 bv a Captain Firth. F. 
fulgens is Mexican and reached 
England about 1838. There are 
several other species of Fuchsia 
in the New World, some of them 
in the more temperate parts, 
and one or two outlying species 
occur in New Zealand. 
The waters of the Amazon 
and Orinoco rivers have given 
us the Victoria regia which has 
the largest leaves and flowers 
of any aquatic plant. The 
floating leaves of this plant are 
round, from 5 to 6 ft. in diam¬ 
eter, and the edge is turned up 
to a height of from 4 to 6 inches; on the lower side the ribs project 
very tar and are armed with formidable spines. The fragrant flower 
is like that of a Water-lily but 15 in. across, white with a pink center 
and lasts for a day only. I his noble member of the vegetable king¬ 
dom was discovered in 1801, but was not introduced until 1846, 
THE BLUE AMARYLLIS 
(Hippeastrum procerum) 
A very handsome species 
aptly named the Empress of 
Brazil, introduced into France 
from Brazil about 1863 
TIGER-FLOWER 
(Tigridia Pavonia) 
Also known as Shell- 
flower, this native 
of Mexico and 
Guatemala with its 
copiously spotted 
orange-yellow blooms 
is familiar in green¬ 
houses and in the 
summer flower border 
when Thomas Bridges success¬ 
fully brought home seeds in 
wet clay. 
Though perhaps less interest¬ 
ing than the Old World family of 
Nepenthes that of Bromeliads is 
worthy of noticeand is peculiarly 
American. The bulk of the spe¬ 
cies are tropical, but one ( Tilland- 
sia usneoides), the Old-man’s-beard, is abundant in Florida and Louisi¬ 
ana, hanging from the trees in long gray festoons. Though many are 
epiphytes of the forests, especially those of the Amazon Valley, quite 
a few are terrestrial plants growing among rocks, often in dry situa¬ 
tions. The best known member of the whole family is the Pineapple, 
