101 Foliage Plants

This is the final installment of a primer of foliage plants for the collector. The preceding installments appeared in the September and October issues of Flower Grower. 

Save all three parts as a handy reference for interesting and decorative house plants.

Philodendron Pertusini

A name was sometimes given to Monstera deliciosa (see October installment).

Philodendron Selloum

A non-climbing kind that has large green, deeply lobed leaves. It needs woodsy, fairly moist soil and ordinary room temperatures and is propagated by division.

Philodendron Sodiroi

A climbing kind with large heart-shaped leaves of silvery-leaden hue and red stems. It is a neat grower.

It has the same uses and requires the same care as Philodendron erubescens (see October installment).

Phoenix Roebelenii

An attractive palm with feathery green foliage. It eventually grows tall but remains small or of moderate dimension for many years.

Culture as for howea (see October installment). 

Pick-a-Back Plant

Tolmiea Menziesii (see page 59). 

Pilea Cadierei (Watermelon Plica)

A new and very distinctive 2-foot-tall plant of easy cultivation brought to the United States by the author from Europe. 

Its elliptic, bright-green leaves are beautifully blotched with clear silvery white. Excellent as a terrarium plant. Stands shade well. The soil is woodsy and fairly moist.

Propagate by cuttings. 

Pilea involucrata (Panamiga)

A charming plant of bushy growth and low habit with broad elliptic corrugated leaves of rich brown-olive green. It requires the same care and culture as Pilea Cadieri.

Pittosporum Tobira variegata

A rounded shrub that eventually grows large but is equally attractive when small. It bears white, fragrant flowers in spring.

The leaves are egg-shaped with a narrow end towards the stem, thick and leathery gray-green with white variegations. 

Ordinary soil. Needs a cool, frost-proof room. A good terrace or patio plant. Slow growing. Propagate by cuttings.

Podocarpus Macrophylla

Eventually, a tall, dark green, narrow-leaved tree in small and medium sizes makes a good pot or tub plant for terraces and patios. It should be wintered in a cool, frost-free, light place. 

Ordinary soil, moderately moist. Propagate by seeds and cuttings. Podocarpus neriifolius is similar and stands for warmer winter temperatures.

Pothos

The plants usually known by this name are Scindapsus (see page 59).

Prayer Plant

Maranta leuconeura Kerchoveana (see October installment). 

Pteris Cretica Albolineata

A 1-foot-tall fern with leaves divided into narrow green segments, each with a white band down its center. It is attractive for terrariums and places where the air is not excessively dry. 

Woodsy soil, always evenly moist. Cool or moderately cool room temperature. Propagation is by spores but is rarely practiced except by greenhouse operators. 

Several other kinds of pteris have similar uses and require similar cultures. 

Rhapis Excelsa (Lady’s Palm)

A fan-leaved palm that forms dense clumps of 5- to 10-foot-tall, slender, erect stems well furnished with attractive green foliage. A fine, long-lasting porch plant. Ordinary soil, moderately moist. 

Medium room temperature is satisfactory. Propagate by division. Rhapis humilis is of more slender growth. It requires a similar culture and has similar uses. 

Rhoeo Discolor

Rhoeo discolor (Moses-in-a-boat, Moses-on-a-raft)—8″ to 9″ inches tall, has spread, fleshy leaves, 3″ inches wide and 1 foot or less long, dark olive green above and rich purple beneath. 

It bears inconspicuous flowers in boat-shaped bracts down among the leaves. Woodsy soil, moderately moist. Ordinary room temperature. Propagate by cuttings. 

Rohdea Japonica Marginata

A durable plant with leathery, strap-shaped black-green leaves that have white margins. Grows slowly, requires the same care and has the same uses as Aspidistra (see September installment).

Rubber-Plant

Ficus elastica (see September installment). 

Rubus Reflexus Pictus

An evergreen vine with lobed, almost maple-leaf-shaped emerald green leaves with brown featherings along the veins.

Needs a fairly moist atmosphere. Ordinary soil, moderately moist. A cool or moderately cool room temperature suits it. Propagate by cuttings. 

Sansevieria Hahni

A dwarf snake plant, 6″ inches tall. Forms attractive rosettes of broad, pointed, dark green leaves with gray-green crossbands.

Stands poor light and dry air well. Ordinary soil, moderately moist but allowed to become nearly dry between waterings. 

Ordinary room temperatures. Propagate by offsets. Sansevieria Hahni variegata is similar but has its leaves marked with narrow, yellow stripes. 

Sansevieria Trifasciata (Snake Plant)

Often misnamed Sansevieria zeylanica. This toughest of all house plants stands poor light and dry air extraordinarily well.

Height 2′ to 3′ feet, leaves fleshy, erect, pointed, gray-green with dark green bands. Sansevieria trifasciata Craigii has leaves with dark-green centers and broad yellow marginal bands. 

Sansevieria trifasciata Laurenti has yellow leaf margins with the centers of the leaves gray-green with dark-green crossbands. Culture as for Sansevieria Halni.

Sansevieria trifasciata can be propagated by leaf cuttings, but the variegated leaves do not reproduce themselves truly when increased in that way.

Saxifraga Sarmentosa (Strawberry Geranium)

This is not related to either the strawberry or the geranium. It is a creeping or trailing plant that forms rosettes of roundish olive-green, white-veined foliage and has sprays of attractive white flowers. 

Fine for a terrarium and for hanging pots and baskets, as well as for a ground cover. Woodsy soil, fairly moist. For cool and medium cool rooms. Propagate by offsets

Schefflera Actinophylla

A comparative newcomer among foliage plants. In nature, a tree succeeds in a large pot or tub and is fine as a large plant indoors or on a porch or patio.

It has long-stalked, large, hand-shaped leaves of bright, glossy green that produce an exotic effect. 

Ordinary soil, moderately moist, not over-wet. Usual room temperatures. Propagate by seeds and air-layering. 

Scindapsus Aureus (Ivy-Arum)

The plant is often called Pothos aureus. It may be grown as a trailer or a climber up a moss stick, piece of bark, or tree branch after the manner of Monstera.

Leaves are glossy, pointed-oval, green irregularly marked with yellow. Culture as for Monstera.

Scindapsus aureus Marble Queen is similar but has white variegations.

Scindapsus Pictus Argyraeus (Ivy-Arum)

Has smaller leaves than those of Scindapsus aureus and its varieties. Unevenly heart-shaped, they are green with conspicuous silvery-white spots and blotches. Has the same uses and needs and the same culture as Scindapsus aureus. 

Scirpus Cernuus (Isolepis Gracilis)

A tufted, green, grasslike plant a few inches tall with more or less drooping threadlike stems that are essentially leafless.

It may be grown in a terrarium or wherever the air is fairly moist. Good for hanging pots or baskets. Woodsy soil, moist. Ordinary room temperatures.

Propagate by seeds and division. 

Screw-pine

Pandanus (see October installment).

Selaginella Uncinata

A creeping, ferny, bluish-green plant of very low growth suitable for a terrarium, a ground cover, and for covering the soil of large plants in pots and tubs.

Needs a moist atmosphere. Woodsy soil, moist. 

Propagate by division. Other kinds of selaginella, including S. Kraussiana may be used and grown similarly. Most have green foliage.

Snake Plant

Sansevieria (see above).

Spider Plant

Chlorophytum (see September installment). 

Squirrels-Foot-Fern

Davallia bulIata (see September installment). 

String of Hearts

Ceropegia (see September installment).

Sweet Bay

Laurus nobilis (see October installment).

Sweet Olive

Osmanthus fragrans (see October installment).

Swiss Cheese Plant

Monstera (see October installment).

Syngonium Podophyllum

Often misnamed Nephthytis liberica, it is a trailing or climbing plant with rich, green, 4- to 6-inch-long, arrow-shaped leaves on long stems.

It has the same uses and needs the same care as Monstera but is a smaller and neater plant. 

Also useful in terrariums. Syngonium podophyllum has several good varieties including albolineatum with white midribs and veins; Emerald Gem, of compact growth and with crinkled leaves; and Green Gold which has a green leaf with an ivory-white center. 

Tolmiea Menziesii (Pick-a-back Plant)

An interesting plant 6″ to 9″ inches tall has light green lobed leaves that produce young plantlets directly from the leaves when mature.

Woodsy soil, moist. Cool room temperatures are best for this plant. Propagated by division and using the plantlets borne on the leaves.

Tradescantia Fluminensis (Wandering Jew)

With fresh green leaves, Tradescantia fluminensis variegata, with leaves variegated with yellow, and Tradescantia fluminensis albo-striata with leaves variegated with white are all good creepers or trailers that succeed under a variety of difficult conditions. 

They are very suitable for hanging pots and baskets, for ground covers, and for covering the soil of large pots and tubs.

Ordinary soil, moderately moist. Ordinary room temperatures. Propagate by cuttings. 

Umbrella-Plant

See Syperus

Watermelon-Begonia

See Peperomia Sandersi argyreia.

Watermelon Pilea

See Pilea Cadieri. 

Zebrina Pendula (Wandering Jew)

Resembles tradescantia and is often confused with it. Differs in having its leaves deep purple beneath.

The leaves above are purplish striped with silver. Zebrina pendula quadricolor has its leaves beautifully variegated with green, purple, pink, and white. 

44659 by T. H. Everett