Plant Gardens 101

Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
Ne-mee’she-a. African herbs or subshrubs, comprising 50 species.

Description
Stem square and grooved. Leaves simple, lance-shaped, not stalked, in alternating pairs, becoming smaller toward the top. Flowers in terminal clusters, yellow, brown, crimson, pink, blue, white, often 2-colored. Corolla short and tubular, the expanded limb wide, flat, and 2-lipped, the base of the lower lip forming a small spur, the upper being cut into 4 segments.

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Acanthus family
Acanthaceae
Thune-ber’ji-a. Mostly Asiatic or African tender woody or herbaceous vines or shrubs comprising about 100 species, the species below grown for ornament. Sometimes called clock vine.

Description
Leaves opposite, often arrow-shaped at the base. Flowers showy, solitary in the leaf axils, variously colored, and below them 2 or more leafy bracts. Corolla funnel- or bell-shaped, sometimes curved, the limb regular or nearly so, not 2-lipped.

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Mint family
Labiatae
Sal’vi-a. Sage. About 750 species of herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs distributed throughout the tropical and temperate world. The leaves of some species are used as a seasoning.

Description
Stems usually square. Leaves in pairs, opposite, simple, ovalish or lance-shaped, sometimes hairy, the margins toothed or deeply cut into segments, smaller toward the top. Flowers in whorls, the clusters 2- to many-flowered, growing from the axils of small, leafy bracts and arranged in terminal spikes or racemes. Colors varying. Calyx 5-lobed, joined about halfway down. Corolla 2-lipped, 3 lobes in the lower lip and 2 in the upper lip. Stamens 4, in pairs.

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Evening primrose family
Onagraceae
Low-peez’ia. A genus of American herbs or subshrubs, used chiefly as greenhouse plants.

Description
Leaves small, alternate, broadly lance-shaped, the margin sawlike. Flowers small, produced in clusters at ends of branches. Petals 5, the upper 2 bent upward and having at the bend a glossy piece of hard honeylike tissue that deceives flies. The real nectaries are at the base of the flower. Stamens 2, one fertile, the other petal-like.

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Milkweed family
Asclepiadaceae
As-klee’pi-as. Milkweed . Milky-juiced, rather showy, but sometimes weedy, perennial herbs, including about 200 species, chiefly from the New World, but a few African. The cultivated species are mostly North American.

Description
Leaves opposite or in whorls, rarely alternate; without marginal teeth. Flowers regular, often showy, usually in close, roundish umbels, but sometimes in few-flowered clusters in leaf axils. Corolla with 5 deep lobes.

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Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
A-sa-ri’na. A small genus of tender, usually climbing, herbs native to North America and Europe.

Description
Leaves mostly triangular and flowers showy, 2-lipped, borne in leaf axils. They are closely related to Antirrhinum but differ in the climbing habit and the symmetrical shape of the capsule.

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Potato family
Solanaceae
Brow-wall’i-a. A genus of mostly tropical American herbs, several widely grown, mostly blue-flowered.

Description
Leaves simple, mostly alternate. Flowers solitary or in somewhat 1-sided racemes. Calyx tubular, usually with 5 teeth. Corolla tubular, the 5-lobed limb more or less irregular.

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Mallow family
Malvaceae
Ab-el-mos’kus. A group of 6 or more species, native in s. Asia. They are related to Hibiscus .

Description
Leaves large, palmately lobed or divided. Calyx thin, split along one side, united at the base to the base of the petals and the staminal column.

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Cucumber family
Cucurbitaceae
Mo-more’di-ka. Over 40 species of tropical Asian or African tendril-bearing, high-climbing vines, 2 grown for their decorative fruit.

Description
Leaves alternate, heavy, compound or deeply divided. Male and female flowers separate, sometimes on the same plant, both solitary (in cultivated species), yellow or white, the stalk bearing a prominent bract. Corolla bell-shaped or more open, parted nearly to the base. Fruit oblongish or globe-shaped, splitting at maturity.

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Mallow family
Malvaceae
A-bu’ti-lon. Flowering Maple ; Chinese Lantern . About 150 species of tropical shrubs (rarely herbs) of the mallow family, a few of which are grown as bedding plants.

Description
Leaves alternate, often veined and resembling a maple leaf; some varieties are variegated. Flowers showy, solitary, and borne in leaf axils, usually drooping and often trumpet-shaped.

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Martynia family
Martyniaceae
Pro-bos-sid’i-a. Nine species of curiously fruited, clammy or sticky American herbs. Grown for ornament or edible seed pods.

Description
Leaves large, with long stems. Flowers in a loose raceme, the corolla 5-lobed, stamens 4. Sepals fused in a tubelike structure.

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Four O’Clock family
Nyctaginaceae
A-bro’ni-a. Sand Verbena . About 30 species of annual and perennial plants mostly from w. North America.

Description
Stems erect or prostrate, leaves opposite, stalked, all usually sticky-hairy. Flowers tubular, in a loose, stalked head, below which are 5 or more colored bracts. Calyx petal-like.

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Four-O’Clock family
Nyctaginaceae
Mi-ra’bil-is. Sixty species of tropical American herbs, only the species below commonly in cultivation.

Description
Roots thickened or tuberous. Leaves opposite, generally stalked. Flowers solitary, or a few from a calyxlike involucre, the true calyx corolla-like, tubular, and red, yellow, or white. Petals none. Stamens 5-6.

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Daisy family
Compositae
San-vi-tal’i-a. North American tender herbaceous annuals comprising about 7 species.

Description
Leaves simple, opposite, ovalish. Flowers in small terminal heads. Ray flowers yellow or white, the disk flowers brown or purplish black.

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Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
Kal-see-o-lay’ri-a. A very large genus of tropical American herbs or shrubby plants, called slipperworts.

Description
Leaves opposite or in whorls, simple or pinnately divided; leafstalk often winged. Flowers in irregular, often 1-sided, clusters, generally yellow, but often spotted with orange-brown. Corolla very irregular and 2-lipped, the upper lip small, the lower one large, inflated, and slipperlike. Stamens 2.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Hell-lip’ter-rum. An important group of more than 60 species of garden everlastings from South Africa and Australia, widely grown for dried bouquets.

Description
Leaves alternate, often white-felty, without marginal teeth. Flowerheads wholly of disk flowers, generally yellow, chaffy, and maintaining their color for long periods. Bracts of the involucre below the flowerhead are green or petal-like and white, yellow, or rose-pink.

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Daisy family
Compositae
Kal-lis’tee-fuss. A single, very variable Asiatic herb, known as the China, or Garden, Aster. Not closely related to the true genus Aster. Good for cutting.

Description
Leaves broadly oval, deeply and irregularly toothed. Flowerheads solitary, at the ends of relatively long stalks.

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Carrot family
Umbelliferae
Ak-ti-no’tus. A group of about 15 herbs, native to Australia and New Zealand.

Description
Leaves alternate, twice- or thrice-compound, hairy or woolly. Flowers very small and numerous, in dense umbels that are surrounded by raylike bracts.

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Daisy family
Compositae
A-jur-a’tum. A group of nearly 30 species of chiefly tropical American annual herbs, one of which is perhaps the most popular of all edging plants.

Description
Leaves opposite, generally oval, the margins with rounded teeth. Flowers blue, pink, or white in some horticultural forms, in compact, clustered heads, without rays.

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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.

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