Besides the common hedge plant there are a number of Panax varieties in Hawaii, usually grown as specimen or greenhouse plants. One is very fine and dainty, with deeply cut, irregularly shaped leaves. Another is curly and still another is a giant, with leaves eight inches across.
The Panax very rarely flowers. ([Plate X])
BEEFSTEAK PLANT
Acalypha wilkesiana J. Mueller (of Aargau)
A plant with bright red foliage, which might easily be taken for one of the Crotons is really an Acalypha, a relative of the striking Chenille plant illustrated in [Plate VIII]. The leaves of this plant are large and tend to a triangular form. They are basically a bronzy green color, with spreading blotches of pink, red and brown, but the total effect of the plant is one of bright red. These shrubs grow ten feet high and are sometimes used for hedges, being always conspicuous objects on the street. There are a number of other varieties besides the one with the bright foliage, one having dull rose patches on bronzy leaves.
Insects are attracted to these leaves so that often they are full of holes and sometimes they are reduced to lacy outlines.
Flowers are rather inconspicuous but of two kinds, the male and female. The former appear as small upright spikes of reddish tufts which are the pistils; staminate flowers are brownish and drooping and suggest little rat-tails.
The Acalyphas are members of the Euphorbia family and A. wilkesiana is a native of the Pacific Islands. ([Plate X])
CARICATURE PLANT. MORADO
Graptophyllum pictum Griffiths
People with good imaginations can see pictures in the yellow or white markings on the green leaves of the Caricature plant. No two leaves are ever quite alike but the “picture” appears always in the center of the leaf rather than along the margins. The leaves are a pointed oval in shape, smooth and rather leathery. They grow in opposite pairs. This plant, too, often is taken casually for one of the Crotons. The shrub will become six or eight feet high.
The flowers are small, tubular and dark red. The original home of the Graptophyllum is not known, but it grows widely in the tropics and is popular in India. It belongs to the Acanthus family. ([Plate X])