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 candleberry tree, much cultivated in tropical countries for the sake of its nuts. The nuts or kernels, when dried and stuck on a reed, are used by the Polynesians as a substitute for candles and a...
The sisal hemp, introduced into Florida many years ago, for the sake of its fiber, but its cultivation has not been prosecuted to a commercial success. Like many other of the best vegetable fibers fou...
The mezquite tree, of Texas, occasionally reaching a height of 25 to 30 feet. It yields a very hard, durable wood, and affords a large quantity of gum resembling gum arabic, and answering every purpos...
This plant belongs to the family of _Apocynaceae_, which contains many poisonous species. It is often cultivated for the beauty of its flowers; the leaves are considered a valuable cathartic, in moder...
Bitter aloe, a plant of the lily family, which furnishes the finest aloes. The bitter, resinous juice is stored up in greenish vessels, lying beneath the skin of the leaf, so that when the leaves are...
This beautiful tree-fern attains a height of stem of 25 to 30 feet, with fronds spreading out into a crest 26 feet in diameter. These plants are among the most beautiful of all vegetable productions,...
The Pali-mara, or devil tree, of Bombay. The plant attains a height of 80 or 90 feet; the bark is powerfully bitter, and is used in India in medicine. It is of the family of _Apocynaceae_.
Malaguetta pepper, or grains of paradise; belonging to the ginger family, _Zingiberaceae_. The seeds of this and other species are imported from Guinea; they have a very warm and camphor-like taste, a...
This plant yields the wood called Lignum Rhodium. It also furnishes a gum resin analogous to Elemi, and supposed to yield Indian Bdellium.