(Dumbcane)

Native to Brazil, this frost-sensitive tender perennial is commonly grown as a houseplant. Dumbcane's large, waxy, green leaves are mottled with blotches of white, cream or yellow. As its lower leaves are shed its stem becomes more evident. All parts of this plant are poisonous if eaten and its sap may cause skin irritation.

Dumbcane should be given bright indirect light or dappled sunlight and shade that occurs under teres. Direct sunlight is appropriate only in midwinter or when it occurs very...

(Butterfly Iris)

Butterfly Iris is a spreading, evergreen perennial native to South Africa. The narrow leaves are simple, lance-shaped, have a distinct mid-rib and arise from a thick rhizome (underground stem) and grow in flat fan-shaped arrangements. The white, yellow and blue to violet flowers appear on long, branched stalks throughout the year but heavier in spring though fall. The flowers occur cycles, generally at two week intervals or a fortnight giving the plant one of its common names. Each flower last only...

(Butterfly Iris, Cape Iris, Fortnight-lily)

Resembling a beardless iris both in flower and leaf, this spreading evergreen perennial from eastern and southern Africa makes an excellent garden plant where hardy. The relatively small creamy-white flowers have yellow blotches on their outer segments and blue petal-like style arms at their centers. They appear in clusters on perennial stems that persist for several years. Individual flowers last only a day but many are borne in succession over spring and summer. The narrow sword-shaped leaves arise...

(Chulta, Elephant Apple)

Everything about the chulta is big and elephant-like: the leaves, flowers, fruits and overall tree habit. It's a beauty to behold in any season. This large, evergreen tropical tree is native to forest riverbanks across tropical Asia: India and Sri Lanka to southern China and Indonesia. It develops a handsome, rounded but spreading canopy. Bark becomes reddish brown.

The leaves are simply beautiful. Each is papery, glossy dark green and the size of a man's foot. Undersides are downy and parallel...

(Longan)

Casting dense shade from its glossy, dark green leaves, longan produces clusters of sweet, spicy, edible fruits with shiny, dark seeds inside called “dragon’s eyes”. The tan fruits are often compared to lychees in taste and appearance. This tree naturally inhabits the forests of southern Asia, from India eastward to China. When mature, it becomes quite tall and develops a broad, spreading canopy. The dense, richly colored wood of longan is also valuable and typically used for furniture making and...

(Cycad, Virgin Palm)

Virgin palm is a very slow-growing cycad with stiff, fern-like leaves radiating outwards from a central, trunk-like stem. A native of southeastern Mexico, this cone-bearing plant is not a real palm, but is more ancient: growing around the time of the dinosaurs. Its fronds are covered with stiff, haired or smooth bluish green or dark green leaflets held perpendicularly to the leaf stem, which is a lighter green. As the plant gets older and grows a clump of taller trunked stems, the leaf fronds are...

(Chiapas Church Steeple Cycad, Cycad, Golden Dioon)

Pointy, plastic-like leaves stiff, sharp-tipped leaflets radiate outward and upward from a central, trunk-like stem on the golden dioon. Native to and endangered in the Mexican state of Chiapas, this cone-bearing plant is neither a fern nor palm, but is a more ancient cycad that existed around the time of the dinosaurs. It grows slowly, eventually developing an upright or leaning trunk-like stem.

New fronds emerge in the heat of summer. They arise from the growing tip on the stem, unfurling with...

(Gum Palm, Spiny Dioon)

The gum palm is a slow growing cycad with stiff, fern-like leaves radiating outwards from a central, trunk-like stem. A native of southern Mexico, this cone-bearing plant is not a real palm, but is more ancient: recorded in fossilized rock along with dinosaur bones. Its fronds are covered with smooth, stiff, dark green leaflets held almost perpendicular to the leaf stem, and have occasional little spines. The fronds are held upright but gracefully curve or droop to make a lovely silhouette. Male...

(Bush-monkey Flower)

perhaps not do this, as it is a synonym for Mimulus aurantiacus.

(Disocactus)

This is the genus of famous tropical orchid cacti, which contains 16 species and countless hybrids. It is a tropical plant that originates in the dappled light of Central American rain forests. These are epiphytic cacti, which means they don’t need to be in soil to grow.They absorb moisture from the humid air and tropical rains through their air roots used to climb tree trunks. Fine feeder roots seek decaying organic matter collected in the crotches of trees or pockets between rocks. In these places...