Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
A growing reference library of gardening terms, techniques and climate concepts explained in plain language.
An Indian plant which is supposed to yield the essential oil called Ylang-Ylang, or Alan-gilan. This oil is obtained by distillation from the flowers, and is highly esteemed by perfumers, having an ex...
A cinchonaceous plant, the fruits of which are eaten in Madagascar under the name of Voa-vanga. The leaves are used in medicine.
The vanilla plant, which belongs to the orchid family. The fruit is used by confectioners and others for flavoring creams, liquors, and chocolates. There are several species, but this gives the finest...
This plant yields a useful gum resin, called Indian copal, piney varnish, white dammar, or gum anine. The resin is procured by cutting a notch in the tree, so that the juice may flow out and become ha...
A New Zealand tree called Towhia by the natives of that country. Its bark is used for tanning purposes, and as a red and brown dye, which give fast colors upon cotton fabrics.
The leaves of this plant furnish an inferior kind of indigo. The wood is beautifully white, close-grained, and ivory-like, and is much used for making Indian toys.
The vegetable ivory plant, a native of the northern parts of South America. The fruit consists of a collection of six or seven drupes; each contains from six to nine seeds, the vegetable ivory of comm...
The date palm, very extensively grown for its fruit, which affords the principal food for a large portion of the inhabitants of Africa, Asia, and southern Europe, and likewise of the various domestic...
This yields the bitter wood known as Jamaica Quassia. The tree is common in Jamaica, where it attains the height of 50 feet. The wood is of a whitish or yellow color, and has an intensely bitter taste...