LOVELY LEAVES 
QUEENSLAND UMBRELLA TREE 
(Brassaia actinophylla. Sny. Schefflera 
actinophylla). Beautiful, evergreen pot or 
patio tree of the Aralia family, eventually 
30 feet, this bears its showy bright green 
foliage to the ground and produces red- 
flowered spikes on top if planted in full 
sun. This splendid Australian plant is one 
of the finest introductions in recent years. 
It thrives in any soil and makes a striking 
ornamental in the Florida garden. 
SNAKEWOOD TREE (Strychnos nux- 
vomica). Medium to large, handsome 
evergreen tree from India with 5-nerved 
shining leaves, often planted for its beau- 
tiful ornamental foliage. The seeds of this 
tree are the nux-vomica of commerce. The 
small greenish-white flowers smell strong- 
ly of turmeric. This tree’ grows well in 
the shade of other trees and is drought 
resistant. 
CECROPIA (C. palmata). This very 
quick-growing Brazilian evergreen tree to 
42 
50 feet has large 7-11-lobed palmate leaves 
at the ends of the branches, white hairy 
beneath, the lobes oblong-obovate. This 
is often called “Snakewood Tree” but the 
flower arrangers have learned the scien- 
tific name. Sexes are on different trees. 
DRAGON TREE (Dracaena dracc). 
Hutchinson says that in the Canary Isl- 
ands the first thing to catch the visitor's 
eye is the Dragon tree, found wild there, 
growing to 60 feet. It is one of the few 
plants in the Lily family that make a tree. 
Like its shrubby garden relatives (several 
kinds of Dracaena are growing in Florida 
for ornament), this tree has 2-foot sword 
shaped leaves, greenish flowers and orange 
berries. It is a very striking and “tropical- 
looking” ornament in anybody’s garden. 
PARKIA. The beautiful dark green 
dense foliage of the tall P. javanica in my 
garden never fails to excite admiration 
with a cry of “What tree is that?” But 
the flowers of this and other Parkia trees 
I have seen are a big disappointment; 
they look like the club used to beat a 
bass drum, a red or yellow “tennis ball” 
on the end of a stick. P. africanum and 
P. filicoidea are red. P. biglandulosa is 
yellow. Some are evergreen, but P. javan- 
ica is bare for a month or more in winter. 
POTTER’S NONI (Morinda citrifolia 
var. potteri). One of the very useful 
plants of the Pacific islands is the noni, 
a member of the coffee family. It is a 
quick-growing tree, rarely attaining 20 
feet, with large glossy leaves and compact 
clusters of white flowers. As these mature, 
the individual fruits coalesce to form a 
single collective fruit like that of the pine- 
apple. The entire structure in shape is 
finally that of a whitish Irish potato with 
5-cornered mosaic-like markings. The ordi- 
nary noni is a curious tree worth planting. 
But the variety potteri, with variegated 
leaves, is outstanding. A single plant was 
discovered on Viti Levi, Fiji Islands, in 
1941 by Otto Degener, of the staff of the 
New York Botanical Garden, and my 
plants are descendants of that tree. The 
noni is partly tolerant of salt and will even 
grow in sand not far from the ocean. It 
is, however, killed back by frost. 
