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Heliconia Rostrata (Lobster claw, False-bird-of-paradise) is an herbaceous perennial native to Ecuador and Peru. It is related to the Bird of Paradise and the banana. An aggressive botanical, it will spread rapidly, given favorable conditions. Other Heliconias grow in the upright position (Heliconia caribaea), their cup-shaped flowers storing water for birds and insects. This plant, however, has downward-facing flowers, and provides a source of nectar to birds
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Blue roses represent the unattainable, a characteristic that has attracted botanists and collectors to for centuries. Blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses, since roses lack a gene to produce delphinidin, the primary plant pigment that produces true, blue flowers. Current methods for obtaining blue roses include dying, hybridizing, and genetic engineering.
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Lotus (from Lotos, the old Greek name given by
Theophrastus and Dioscorides to some leguminous plants).
Bird's-foot Trefoil. Including Pedrosia and Tetragonolobus. A large genus (about 100
species have been described, although not more than fifty
have any claim to specific rank) of greenhouse or hardy
herbs or sub-shrubs, widely dispersed over the temperate
regions of the Northern hemisphere in the Old World,
the mountains of tropical Asia, and extra-tropical South
Africa.
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The first time I encountered the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), it was in a grouping of specimens, three rows of six each. The horticulturists at the University of Nevada Las Vegas had planted them in a rectangular section adjoining the walkway that lead to my office spaces. The specimens were part of the extensive xeriscaping used at the University. Each specimen had four or five “canes,” or elongated stems, that reached upwards to eight or ten feet.
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Dendrobium (from dendron, a tree, and bios, life;
the species are epiphytal in their native habitats). SYN.
Pedilonum. A large and elegant genus
of greenhouse orchids. A few species are very
fragrant; but the scent of some is objectionable. Lip
more or less contracted at base into a claw, lying upon,
or adnate to, the foot of the column ; pollinia four. "The
genus," says Dr. Lindley, " varies extremely in the habit
of its species, some being little larger than the mosses
among which they grow, while others are surpassed in
stature by few of their order .....
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Agave (from agauos, admirable; referring to the
stately form in which some of them flower). Flower-scape tall, proceeding from the centre of the
rosette of leaves; perianth funnel-shaped, six-parted. Leaves
large, fleshy, tufted. A. Sartorii, and a few others are exceptional, and go on flowering year after year.
It is certainly fallacious to suppose it takes them a hundred
years to flower. Agaves succeed well potted in good
loam and river sand, to which may be added a little peat and
leaf mould for some of the smaller-growing kinds.
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Dentaria (from dens, a tooth; referring to the fanged roots). Toothwort. A genus of very ornamental hardy herbaceous perennials. Radical leaves none or few, on long stalks; cauline ones stalked, placed on the middle of the stem, alternate or in whorls, palmately or pinnately cut. Stem erect, bearing the raceme at the top; pedicels filiform, bractless. Rootstocks creeping, scaly.
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Cunninghamia (named after J. and A. Cunningham, two celebrated botanical collectors, the former being
the discoverer of this Conifer). This is a broad-leaved China Fir. An evergreen tree, not hardy except in
very favoured spots. It is too large to be allowed space
in the greenhouse, and, when grown in the open, it is
almost invariably disfigured by the violence of winds and
frost.
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Dudleya is a large genus of succulent plant, one with about 80 species, which are native to the western parts of the United States and Mexico. They have rosettes of white-powdered leaves, but some vary in colour from pale green to grey-green. The flowers are white, pale yellow, yellowish-pink, and red. Dudleya species are widespread in their range, typically found in rock outcroppings, cliff faces, or road cuts, where their leaves help them store water in a setting too dry for most types of plants. Most are small and inconspicuous when not in bloom.
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