Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
A growing reference library of gardening terms, techniques and climate concepts explained in plain language.
The ice plant, so called in consequence of every part of the plant being covered with small watery pustules, which glisten in the sun like fragments of ice. Large quantities of this plant are collecte...
A composite plant which has gained some notoriety as the supposed Cundurango, the cancer-curing bark. It has long been supposed to supply a powerful antidote for the bite of venomous serpents.
The Bully tree. This sapotaceous plant attains a great size in Guiana and affords a dense, close-grained, valuable timber. Its small fruits, about the size of coffee berries, are delicious when ripe....
A native of Ceylon, where its hard, heavy, durable timber is used for building purposes. The seed also affords a great amount of oil.
An African plant belonging to the Anonaceae. It produces large fruit, which contains a large quantity of seeds about the size of the Scarlet-Runner bean. They are aromatic and impart to the fruit the...
This is a native of southern Mexico and yields a delicious fruit with luscious pineapple flavor. The outer skin of the fruit, if eaten, causes a stinging sensation in the mouth. This is easily removed...
A native of the East Indies, where it bears the name of horse-radish tree. The seeds are called ben nuts and supply a fluid oil, highly prized by watchmakers, called oil of ben. The root is pungent an...
The hog gum tree, which attains the height of 100 feet. A fluid juice exudes from incisions in the trunk and hardens into a yellow resin. It is said the hogs in Jamaica when wounded rub the injured pa...
A tall climbing plant of the West Indies and other warm climates. It is called the cowage, or cow-itch, on account of the seed pods being covered with short brittle hairs, the points of which are fine...