Independent gardening advice for real gardens, balconies and windowsills.
A growing reference library of gardening terms, techniques and climate concepts explained in plain language.
This tropical plant is known as the sand-box tree. Its deep-furrowed, rounded, hard-shelled fruit is about the size of an orange, and when ripe and dry, it bursts open with a sharp noise like the repo...
The locust tree of the West Indies; also called algarroba in tropical regions. This is one of the very largest growing trees known, and living trees in Brazil are supposed to have been growing at the...
The doum, or doom palm, or gingerbread of Egypt; it grows also in Nubia, Abyssinia, and Arabia. The fibrous, mealy husks of the seeds are eaten, and taste almost like gingerbread. In the Thebias this...
The incense tree of Guiana, a tall-growing tree, furnishing wood of great durability. It is called cedar wood on account of its fragrant odor. The balsam from the trunk is highly odoriferous, and used...
This is the tea plant of South America, where it occupies the same important position in the domestic economy of the country as the Chinese tea does in this. The _mate_ is prepared by drying and roast...
This magnoliaceous plant is a native of China, and its fruit furnishes the star anise of commerce. In China, Japan, and India it is used as a condiment in the preparation of food, and is chewed to pro...
A native of the Southern States. The leaves are said to be poisonous; hence, the plant is sometimes called poison bag. The bark has been used as a substitute for cascarilla.
The calabash tree of the West Indies, where it is valued for the sake of its fruits, which resemble pumpkins in appearance and occasionally reach a diameter of 18 inches. Divested of their pulp, which...
This West Indian shrub is sometimes called seaside balsam or sage. A thick, yellowish, aromatic juice exudes from the extremities of the broken branches, or wherever the stem has been wounded. In Mart...