Plants 41-50

I continue today with ten additional indoor plants as found on the Washington State University Interior Plantscaping 332 course. The world of stationary living things is so vast that you need to go little by little until you get a foothold in that world--then it all begins to open in wonderful ways. Let's get right to it.

1.-2. We begin with two Aglaonema spp., the 'Silver Queen' and the 'Emerald Beauty.' These are of the Araceae family, and thus they aren't in the same "category" as the Dracaenas or the Cordyline, which are, according to this course, in the Dracaenaceae. It is a long-lived easy-to-grow indoor plant which can't stand much cold but can thrive in little light. Called the "Chinese Evergreen," because of its place of origin and its constant color, it is considered good luck in many parts of the Eastern world to own and grow one. The 'Silver Queen' has dark green, lance-shaped leaves (lanceolate) with variegated silver on the multiple leaves. One web site says "will grow for anybody." My kind of plant! As you see, the 'Emerald Queen' looks similar to the 'Silver Queen' except that the former has much deeper green leaves, and the silver doesn't seem to be quite so prevalent.

3. The Aechmea fasciata looks like a very busy Aglaonema or even Dracaena, but the key to identifying it is the tufted reddish flower that emerges from the forest of green leaves. This Bromeliaceae is described in this way on the A & M web site: "Rosette of leathery leaves covered with greyish waxy scales; flowers are a head of bract which are showy for weeks." This would get us into the Bromeliads, a complex and showy family of plants. It will have to be one of the 100 families that I decide to memorize. Since I "only" plan to "memorize" 1000 genuses at first, I don't know which of the Bromeliads will "make it" on my list.

4. I first saw a Kalanchoe in a local supermarket. I didn't know at the time that the blossfeldiana species is so recommended as an indoor plant . It, like the jade plant (Crassula argentea) hails from the Crassulaceae, the "thick" growers. The leaves, as can be seen in this picture, are glossy green and slightly dentate, which means toothed or notched. As you see here, the tightly-packed pink flowers are in clusters of about 12 above the glossy leaves. Even though the diseases of leaves are painful to see, I like this page because it introduces so much more knowledge of the world...of destruction.

5. The Boston fern, Nephrolepis exaltata, is next. Its meaning is "kidney scale raised" or "elevated." These ferns require lots of light and warm temperatures, which means that it won't really go very well in the fern garden I am planning (under two understory trees between my house and the neighboring house). If you look at it for a while, you see its resemblance to a sword fern, but the latter is from the Dryopteridaceae family, while the Boston fern comes from, get this, either the Davilliaceae or Oleandraceae or its own family, the Nephrolepidaceae, but Wikipedia decides for the Lomariopsiadaceae. Do you think this fern might have an identity problem? Or maybe the scientists do who try to classify it... Many have treasured this hanging fern since the Victorian era, because of its "long and elegant" fronds. I simply have to study ferns more to be able to say the same.

6.-7. Let's move to the Dieffenbachias, both the amoena and maculata 'Camille.' These are known as Dumb cane and Giant dumb cane. Sort of like bozo and Giant bozo, I suppose, until you realize that this plant, from the Araceae family, is so toxic that ingestion of its liquid or stalk will paralyze the mouth and vocal cords, thus making the person "dumb." It does so because of the prevalence of crystals of calcium oxalate. Thus, it isn't the plant to have around if kids, cats or other things that gnaw on plants live there. The maculata means "spotted," and the 'Camille,' as you see, lives up to that billing. Actually, the picture I gave looks like much more than spotting. The amoena is known as "Giant," and you can see the leaf difference here. The amoena has a very pronounced mid-rib; usually the color was cream or yellow, but this one is green... The name commemorates a German physician, whose biography is briefly given here. If there is one thing plants should do--it is to drive us to history.

8. The Vriesea splendens has earned its name. The tall shoot emerging from a symmetrical pattern of firm and maculated leaves means that it is going to be from the Bromeliad family. It is known as the "flaming sword;" maybe Adam & Eve saw a Vriesea instead of angel brandishing a flaming sword as they were expelled from the Garden of Eden...This page not only shows the splendens but a few of the other species. I think the guttata is quite amazing. When you look at these pictures, you simply have to wonder at the craftsmanship stunning behind them..

9. Let's move from the exciting plant to a common, sort of pedestrian one, the Swedish Ivy, Plectranthus australis. Here is a close-up picture. Kind of reminds of Creeping Charlie except that these leaves look a bit more glossy. It is in the Lamiaceae family and, indeed, is sometimes called "creeping charlie," though the official name of that creeper is Glechoma hederacea. Indeed, at the nursery yesterday they encouraged me to buy some of the latter, but I am not really sold on it. Seems like there are lots of other more attractive "creepers" out there.

10. Let's close this essay with a reference to one of the more distinctive trees I have seen, the Pencil Tree, Euphorbia tirucalli. You can imagine it on a moon or outer space landscape, can't you? As this picture shows, however, the network of "pencil" branches can be much thicker. Just as the Lysimachia in the name of the Creeping Jenny takes us back to the classical world to understand Lysimachus and what he did, so the Euphorbia here is named after Euphorbus, the physician of Juba II of Mauretania. Can't wait to do some essays on how classically-named plants got their names. But I think, because way leads to way, that sooner or later I would have to pick up Pliny's Natural History and study Aristotle and Theophrastus, and there you have it...another task to do..

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