MARANTAS.
These are considered by florists as among the most elegant of tropical plants, but like the Eranthemums, are not generally known. They are all natives of tropical America, and require strong heat with plenty of moisture. They are low-priced, and ought to be more extensively cultivated. I think mine are very beautiful. Eximia, upper surface of leaves striped with grayish-white; under, purplish-violet. Leopordina, pale green with oblong blotches of deep green. Mikans, shining green with a white feathery stripe. Van den Heckii, dark glossy leaves, mid-rib silvery white. Makayana, a very ornamental dwarf species; leaf-stalks slender reddish-purple, blade of the leaf ovate, ground color, olive green, beautifully and regularly blotched with creamy yellow of a transparent character; on each side the mid-rib are oblong dark green blotches, while the under side is rosy red. Tubispatha is an elegant and very attractive species of erect habit of growth; leaves some nine or ten inches long, light green, ornamented on each side the mid-rib with oblong blotches of cinnamon brown. Veitchii, "The leaves of this grand plant are upward of twelve inches in length; the under surface of a rich purplish-wine color, the upper of a deep shining green, blotched with conspicuous patches along each side, of a yellowish-green, almost verging on gray. The contrast is very marked, and the whole plant very beautiful."
Achyranthes, a genus of richly colored tropical plants, are better known, and to a limited extent are found in many gardens, Verschaffelti, with its dark crimson leaf, being the most common. Brilliantissima, ruby red, is a new English variety; Wallisii is a new dwarf, with small purple leaves; Lindeni Aurea Reticulata, foliage netted with golden yellow, on a light green ground. These plants are of the easiest cultivation, and endure strong sunshine without injury.
Alternantheras are also very effective for bedding plants; habit dwarf. Foliage is in some of a magenta-rose color, others, yellow and red; Purpurea has a purplish tint, and Versicolor, crimson and pink shadings. They are unsurpassed for ribbon or carpet bedding.
Dieffenbachia, a genus of stove plants with very showy foliage. Brasiliensis, a handsome variety, the leaves averaging eighteen inches in length by eight or nine inches in width; the ground color of the leaf is deep green, and the whole surface is mottled with small blotches of greenish-yellow and white; Bausei is a stocky-growing, broad-leaved variety, with yellowish-green leaves, which are irregularly edged and blotched with dark green, and also spotted with white, the markings being peculiarly effective; Weirie is of dwarf habit, the foliage of a bright green color, thickly blotched and spotted with pale yellow. One of the finest of the species. They grow best in loam and peat equal quantities, with a little sand. Require strong heat and frequent watering.
A few ornamental foliage plants of rare beauty received from Mr. John Saul merit special notice:
Cyanaphyllum Spectandum is a grand plant with large, oblong, lustrous leaves which have a rich, velvety appearance; they are beautifully ribbed with whitish color.
Alocacia Macrorhiza Variegata, its large caladium-shaped leaves are marbled and broadly splashed with white. Some leaves are nearly all white; Zebrina, fine yellow leaf-stalk with distinct black marks; Illustris, the leaf-stalks are erect, and have a brownish-purple tint, color a rich green, marked between the principal veins by broad patches of a blackish olive, and forming a striking contrast with the brighter green portions of the leaf surface; Sedini, "A very beautiful hybrid between A. Metallica and A. Lowii. The form of the leaf is perfectly intermediate between the two parents, whilst the coloring is a very striking and pleasing combination of the metallic hue of one parent, with the dark green and prominent white veins of the other." Alocasias require a moist heat during their growing season. Soil, peat, with a small portion of loam, sand and manure.
Acalypha Macafeeana is another of the rare and beautiful foliage plants alluded to. It is considered the best Acalypha ever offered. It is certainly very handsome with its "sub-cordate and serrate leaves, eight inches long and six broad, frequently cut into many forms, and very highly colored bright red, blotched with deep bronzy crimson." It proves to be an admirable plant for bedding out. Quite as attractive every way is Panax Laciniatum, "An elegant and very distinct habited stove plant from the South Sea islands. The leaves are tinted and indistinctly marked with pale olive brown, and form a rather complicated mass of narrow segments; they are bipinnate, nearly as broad as long, and have a drooping contour; and the pinnules or segments are very variable in size and form, presenting the appearance of a complex head of foliage in which the lanceolate lobes or pinnules have the preponderancy."
Panax Fruiticosm has a very graceful fern-like foliage. These plants belong to the Aralia family, a genus very ornamental, natives of the South Sea Islands.