Plant Gardens 101

Soapberry family
Sapindaceae
Kar-dee-o-sper’mum. A genus of perhaps 12 species of chiefly tropical herbaceous vines, one cultivated, mostly in warm regions, for ornament.

Description
Leaves alternate, twice-compound, the ultimate leaflets coarsely toothed. Flowers small but numerous, unisexual, in clusters that bear tendrils. Sepals and petals each 4. Fruit a papery, inflated, and veiny capsule, 3-valved, and with black seeds with a white, heart-shaped spot, hence the common name of heart-seed for these vines.

How to Grow    (more…)

Gentian family
Gentianiaceae
You-sto’ma. A small genus of North American prairie herbs, the species below cultivated in the garden.

Description
Leaves opposite, ovalish, sometimes stem-clasping. Flowers solitary or in clusters, corolla with 5-6 lobes.

How to Grow    (more…)

Potato family
Solanaceae
Kap’si-kum. A genus of tropical woody plants yielding Red (but not black) Peppers, Tabasco, and Cayenne Peppers, as well as the milder peppers commonly grown as vegetables. Most are from tropical America.

Description
Leaves alternate, simple, without marginal teeth. Flowers white or greenish white, usually stalked and solitary or in 2- to 3-flowered clusters, generally wheel-shaped and 5-lobed. Fruit typically podlike with a thickish rind. Most are hot; all are edible.

How to Grow   (more…)

Mustard family
Cruciferae
Brass’i-ka. An important genus of temperate Old World annual or biennial herbs, containing all the vegetables of the cabbage tribe, including mustard, kale, rape, and turnip. Some are pernicious weeds.

Description
They have mostly smooth, often bluish-green, water-shedding leaves. Flowers yellow or white, with 4 petals, and in terminal racemes.

How to Grow   (more…)

Purslane family
Portulacaceae
Por-tew-lak’a. Purslane . Low-growing, mostly trailing herbs, comprising about 100 species from tropical and temperate regions.

Description
Stems soft and fleshy, often reddish. Leaves alternate, small, thick, entire, often spoonshaped, 1-2 in. (2.5-5.0 cm) long. Flowers usually terminal, usually opening only in full sunlight, sometimes inconspicuous, sometimes showy. Calyx of 5 sepals. Corolla of 5 petals, in varying colors. Stamens numerous.

How to Grow   (more…)

Carrot family
Umbelliferae
Kair’um. A genus of about 30 species of Old World temperate zone herbs.

Description
Leaves mostly basal, much compounded into tiny segments. Flowers minute, white, in small umbels that are grouped in larger umbels. Fruit dry and seedlike.

How to Grow    (more…)

Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
A-lon-zo’a. Ten species of tropical American herbs grown as annuals outdoors or as greenhouse plants for their attractive, red, winter-blooming flowers.

Description
Leaves opposite or in threes. Flowers in terminal finger-shaped clusters, the corolla very irregular, 2-lipped, and turned upside down by twisting of its individual stalklets.

How to Grow   (more…)

Grass family
Gramineae
A-gros’tis. Bent Grass . A large genus of widely distributed annual and perennial grasses, a few of which are much used in hay and lawn seed.

Description
Leaves narrow. Flowers in small spikelets that are borne in open, loose panicles.

How to Grow   (more…)

Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
Mim’you-lus. A genus of about 150 declining or erect herbs or subshrubs found in North and South America, Asia, Australia, South Africa, and very numerous in w. North America. Sometimes called Diplacus .

Description
Plants smooth or hairy, often sticky or clammy. Leaves opposite, with or without marginal teeth. Flowers showy, 2-lipped, often spotted, giving the effect of a face, growing singly from the leaf axils or in terminal racemes.

How to Grow   (more…)

Cucumber family
Cucurbitaceae
Laj-en-a’ri-a. A small genus of herbaceous vines, native in the tropics of the Old World and South America, related to the melons.

Description
Leaves broadly heart-shaped to ovate, with irregular margins. Flowers solitary, white, male flowers with long pedicle, female flower with ovary below petals.  

How to Grow   (more…)

Buttercup family
Ranunculaceae
Con-sol’id-da. About 40 species of annuals from s. and e. Europe to cen. Asia, 2 fairly commonly cultivated. They are related to Delphinium, from which they differ in having the 2 upper petals united into 1, and the 2 lower petals lacking.

Description
Leaves narrow and divided. Flowers in showy spikes, with sepals and petals similar in shape, but one bearing a long spur.

How to Grow    (more…)

Amaranth family
Amaranthaceae
Al-ter-nan’ther-ra. A genus of some 20 low-growing foliage plants, often sold under the name Telanthera or Achyranthas . They are perennial plants, mostly Brazilian, not well understood botanically.

Description
They have opposite, narrow, small leaves, often colored, and minute flowers in dense clusters in the leaf axils. The flowers, however, are rarely produced because foliage is usually cut low and used as ground cover.

How to Grow   (more…)

Grass family
Graminae
Ko’icks. A small genus of Indo-Malayan grasses, the species below grown here for ornament; but in its native region, its beadlike seeds are used to make rosaries.

Description
Stem jointed. Leaves flat. Flower cluster terminal, the male clusters at the end, the female below, the latter containing a white beadlike structure and the edible kernel.

How to Grow    (more…)

Grass family
Gramineae
Pol-li-po’gon. About 10 species of grasses with soft silky inflorescences.

Description
Leaf blades flat and narrow. Flowers in spikelike panicles.

How to Grow   (more…)

Carrot family
Umbelliferae
Pim-pi-nell’a. Numerous species of perennial or annual herbs from the north temperate zone, only the one below grown in gardens.

Description
Leaves twice- or thrice-compound, the ultimate segments mostly toothed. Flowers small, in a compound umbel.

How to Grow   (more…)

Grass family
Gramineae
Lag-you’rus. A single species of annual grass of the Mediterranean region, grown for dried bouquets. Related to Agrostis .

Description
An erect grass, its narrow, grasslike leaves softly hairy. The flowering cluster in an oblongish head.

How to Grow    (more…)

Daisy family
Compositae
Ti-tho’ni-a. Ten species of tall sunflowerlike shrubs or woody perennial herbs native in Mexico and Central America and naturalized elsewhere in the tropics. One species grown as an annual in the North.

Description
Leaves alternate or sometimes opposite on lower stem, broadly ovalish, deeply lobed, or coarsely round-toothed. Flowerheads usually solitary on long, hollow stems, the disk flowers bisexual, fertile, yellow, the ray flowers neutral, golden to orange.

How to Grow   (more…)

Saxifrage family
Saxifragaceae
Sacks-iff’ra-ga. Saxifrage ; Rockfoil . About 300 species of herbs found chiefly in the temperate regions of Europe and America. Very diverse, but usually low-growing, or creeping, the rootstocks spreading by offsets or runners.

Description
Leaves thick and fleshy or soft and mosslike, roundish or spoon-shaped to ovalish, sometimes arranged in a rosette. Margins generally toothed, often encrusted as with lime, hence silvery. Flowers pink, white, purple, or yellow, in clusters. Calyx of 5 sepals, spreading. Corolla of 5 or more petals. Stamens 10 or more.

How to Grow  (more…)

Knotweed family
Polygonaceae
Pol-lig’o-num. Smartweed ; Knotweed . Erect, trailing, or climbing herbs, comprising about 150 worldwide species of very diverse habits.

Description
Stems angled, swollen at the joints where leaf base clasps the stem, sometimes spotted or streaked brown. Leaves alternate and simple. Flowers small, in terminal spikes or loose racemes. Calyx of 5 sepals generally colored pink or white. Corolla absent. Stamens 3-9.

How to Grow   (more…)

Phlox family
Polemoniaceae
Flocks . About 60 species of usually hardy herbs found mostly in North America.

Description
Leaves lance-shaped, opposite and in pairs, or alternate. Flowers showy, in loose or closely packed terminal clusters, ranging from white to red, pale lilac, or purple, the corolla tube usually having an eyelike marking at the opening. Calyx of 5 sepals united halfway down. Corolla of 5 united petals forming a short, narrow tube. Stamens 5, usually enclosed in the corolla tube.

How to Grow   (more…)