Handy Pocket Guide to Tropical Plants. Elisabeth Chan

      Cordyline terminalis

      Botanical family: Dracaenaceae

      Cultivated for their beautiful leaves, cordylines are native to Australasia, the Pacific Islands and tropical America. The center for cordyline development is Hawaii where it is known as the ti plant. In Asia, collectors look to Thailand.

      Most cultivated cordylines have long leaves that vary in width and length. They grow in a roseate form at the top of a stem that is marked all the way up the stem by the scars of the leaf sheaths. Some newer hybrids have leaves twisted like corkscrews, and many other cultivars have broad leaves or leaves that are almost cup-shaped. In all cordylines, the flowers are inconspicuous. The leaves come in all colors except blue, black, pure yellow, pink or other delicate colors. There are many variations on the rose-purple color, and there is a striped green and white form.

      The landscaping style created by Roberto Burle Marx, now popular in public landscaping all over the tropics, has made the cordyline an essential element. Planted in blocks of a single color, they are striking and easy to maintain.

      Codiaeum

      Codiaeum variegatum

      Botanical family: Euphorbiaceae

      Codiaeum are found in almost all tropical gardens, parks, roadside plantings, Botanic Gardens and cemeteries. They are popularly and inaccurately called 'crotons'. They are almost trouble free and are very colorful ornamentals. The flowers are inconspicuous, but the shiny leaves come in innumerable variations or color, shape, size and rorm. The forms commonly seen are cultivated varieties of plainer, duller, single color species now rarely seen. As they are so variable, the only way to ensure that a plant is the desired one is to propagate it vegetatively.

      Codiaeum are indigenous to Malesia and the Pacific. They come in all colors except blue, black, pink and purple. There are many named varieties, and recently, Thai horticulturalists have developed dwarf varieties suitable for the pot plant culture of urban areas. Codiaeum are useful as specimen plants, hedges and as part of a general planting. The taller specimens reach about 2 m and they require full sunlight. They can give a garden a 'hot' tropical look.

      Aroids

      Alocasia macrorrhizos; Amorphophallus paeoniifolius;Caladium x. hortulanum; Monstera deliciosa; Pistia stratiotes

      Botanical family: Araceae

      Araceae are a large botanical family classified at present into 2,500 species. The plants pictured here belong to a tiny part of them. They do not resemble each other in any way noticeable to a casual observer, but they illustrate the vast range of tropical aroids that exist.