Ginseng is a perennial herb of eastern Asia and eastern North America. It is a low plant with three to five leaves on top. Each leaf consists of five leaflets. Ginseng has a long, fleshy root whose shape somewhat resembles that of a human body. The plant’s name comes from Chinese words meaning likeness of a man.

The ginseng root is used as a medicine in a number of countries. However, its medical value has not been proven. Manufacturers may add ginseng to such prod. American ginseng has tiny flowers and berries. The Chinese use the long, fleshy roots of this plant for medicine.

Wild ginseng has almost disappeared, and the plant is grown chiefly in China, Korea, and the United States. Most American ginseng is exported to China.

Scientific classification. Ginseng is in the family Araliacea. The scientific name for the American species is Panax quinque-folius. The Asian species is P. ginseng.

GLADIOLUS is any of several species of showy flowering herbs of the iris family (Iridaceae). It has broad flat leaves that resemble the blades of swords. The long, straight stalk and lily-like blossoms make the gladiolus one of the most handsome flowers grown for garden and house decoration. Native to South Africa, Asia, and Europe, the species of wild gladiolus have been hybridized and selected by plant breeders in Europe and the United States so that hundreds of different varieties are now known. Most of these cultivated gladioli reach heights of from three to four feet. Their blossoms grow usually in a double row on one side of the stalk. They appear in white and shades of yellow, lavender, smoky gray, maroon, red purple, and in a range of red, rose, and pink hues.

Gladiolus are generally raised from bulbs, which should be planted about three to five inches apart and five inches deep in rows at least one foot apart, or in garden beds, as tulips are planted. Well-fertilized, sandy loam is most suitable. By making successive plantings of bulbs at intervals of two or three weeks, from late March to middle June, one may have flowers continuously from July to frost.

New “bulbs” (really corms) are produced each year above the original bulbs, and small bulblets” (cormels) grow around them. The bulbs should be gathered in the fall after the first hard frost and stored in a cool room to be replanted the following spring. The bulblets may be replanted close together in shallow rows, like peas. In from one to three years, they will develop to flowering size. Most new varieties are raised from seeds. Seedlings bloom two to three years after the seeds are sown.

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　　DAY LILY or HEMERO- CALLIS is a common, flowering garden plant. Hemerocallis is the scientific name of the group (genus) of plants of the lily family. They bear large, showy, lily like flowers. Each lasts only for a day. The word Hemerocallis means “beautiful for a day.” About 20 species are known.

Day lilies are grown in gardens in North America, Europe, and Asia, their native land. Wild day lilies are usually orange or yellow, and bloom in June and July. Garden varieties and hybrids add shades of red to the colors, and blossom through a longer season. Long, narrow leaves grow at the base of the plant. In some oriental countries, the flowers, dried or pickled in brine, have been used in soups.

Day lilies are easy to grow, hardy, and generally free from pests and diseases. New plants are grown from seeds or from divisions of the thick roots. Plantain lilies, with white, blue, or lavender flowers, are sometimes called day lilies.

　　FOXGLOVE is a plant that has for centuries been grown in gardens of many lands. They are members of the Figwort family. About 30 species are natives of Europe and western Asia. Some are biennials. Others are perennials. Only a few species are commonly cultivated. In North American gardens, the common or purple foxglove is the most important species. Its bell-like flowers usually grow in a stiff cluster on one side of the stalk. The flowers bloom in June and are two to three inches long. Their color may be white, lavender or deep purple, but most are purple-spotted. The stalk grows up to five feet tall, rising high above a cluster of large gray-green leaves near the ground.

The common foxglove grows wild in shady fields or roadsides in England and other parts of Europe. It grows wild in parts of temperate North America, most often on the Pacific Coast. Its old English name, Folks’ or Fairies’ Glove or Thimble, has been changed to foxglove. Its scientific name, Digitalis, is from the Latin word meaning “of or belonging to the finger.”

The name digitalis is given to a powerful drug, made from the leaves of the common foxglove. The value of the drug as a heart stimulant was discovered long ago in England. These leaves are poisonous to livestock.

Foxgloves are easy to grow if they have some shade the common foxglove is usually grown as a biennial. It is raised from seed planted outdoors in summer so the plants will bloom the following year. The young plants may need winter protection.

Perennial foxgloves are grown from seed or by root division. The flowers of perennial foxgloves are usually yellow.

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CARNIVOROUS PLANTS are plants that are able to capture insects and certain other small animals and consume them for food. These plants do not actually chew and swallow their prey as animals do. Instead, most carnivorous plants secrete juices that act life the digestive prices of the stomach. The victim is decomposed by these juices, and the decomposed matter is absorbed into the plant.

The rounded, or spoon shaped, leaves of sundews are covered with tentacles, each of which holds a drop of mucilage (a sticky liquid) at its tip. These drops glisten in the sunlight like dewdrops, thereby giving the plant its name. When an insect crawls onto a leaf, the mucilage holds it fast as the insect struggles to get free the plant secretes more liquid until at last the insect is smothered. In a short time the tentacles close around the insect’s body, and the plant secretes the juice that digests the victim. Digestion may take several days. When it is complete, the tentacles open, and the plant awaits another victim.

Sundews always grow in wet places. They are found in many parts of the world. The greatest variety of species grows in Australia and southern Africa. The few species that grow in North America are widespread across the continent

Butterworts have oval, yellowish-green leaves that are greasy in appearance because of their mucilage coating. When an insect alights on one of these leaves, the mucilage holds it and the leaf begins to curl inward. The plant secretes more mucilage, and, when the insect is trapped, the digestive juices are secreted.

Butterworts are found throughout the North Temperate Zone. The most widespread species is Pinguicula vulgaris, also called the bog violet because its purplish blossoms resemble violets.

Venus’s – Flytraps and Bladderworts. Perhaps the most remarkable of the carnivorous plants are the group that have trap like mechanisms. The leaves of the well-known Venus’s-flytrap (Dionaea) look somewhat like open clamshells. Each leaf is composed of two semicircular halves, or lobes. The outer edges of the lobes are fringed with stiff bristles. On the inner side of each lobe are three extremely sensitive bristles. Insects are attracted to the leaves by nectar secreted near the edges of the lobes. When an insect brushes the trigger hairs, the trap snaps shut and the fringe of outer bristles interlock like fingers of clasped hands. In a few days the captured insect is digested, and the trap reopens. The trap, however, is able to feed only two or three times at the most before it turns black and shrivels up.

The Venus’s flytrap is found only along the coasts of North and South Carolina. It grows nowhere else in the world. It thrives in moist areas, often in company with pitcher plants and sundews.

Bladderworts (Utriculcrim) also capture their victims with trap like parts. These small aquatic plants may be free floating or anchored to the bottom of a pond or swamp pool. Only the flowering stalks rise above the surface. Among the submerged leaves are tiny baglike growths. At the mouth of each of these bladders is a trapdoor. The trapping mechanisms vary among the several species, but the common bladderwort, Utricuhria vulgaris, has stiff bristles at the opening of the trapdoor. Tiny insects or water animals, such as crustaceans and larvae, brush against these trigger bristles, causing the trapdoor to open. The water rushes into the hollow bladder, sucking the creature inside; where it is digested. The trapdoor then resets itself. Unlike the Venus’s flytrap, the bladderwort is able to continue trapping victims for a longer period of time.

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Bougainvillea, is the name of a group of South American shrubs and climbing vines. They grow to a height of 10 feet (3 meters) or more. They have small flowers that are enclosed by large, colorful bracts(modified leaves). The bracts may be red, purple, pink, orange, or pale yellow.They are often grown as porch climbers in the South and in California, and for hedges in South America. They must be kept in greenhouses in colder climates because frost kills them. They are raised from sterns cut from older plants.

Broom is the name of a group of attractive shrubs. More than 100 species grow in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Some types of broom plants are used to make dyes. The Scotch broom, a native of Europe, is grown in the United States. Many of its green branches are leafless or almost without leaves. The showy, yellow flowers are shaped like butterflies. The fruit is a pod with one or more seeds in it. The English royal house of Plantagenet received its name from the Latin term Planta genista, which means sprig of the broom plant See also Legume.

Scientific classification. Scientists classify most broom plants in the pea family, Fabaceae or Leguminosae. The scientific name for the Scotch broom is Cytisus scoparius.

BUCKWHEAT is a quick-growing annual plant, grown for its shining, three-sided fruits or “grain.” The plants are native in Asia, but are grown also in Europe, Africa, and North America.

Three types of buckwheat are grown: common buckwheat, Tartary buckwheat, and notched or winged buckwheat. The U.S.S.R. was the world’s largest producer, followed by France, Poland, Canada, and the United States. Pennsylvania and New York produce more than half of the United States crop.

Most buckwheat is raised for the grain, which is fed to poultry, hogs, or cattle. In the United States and Canada, some is made into pancake flour and other foods. The straw and hulls are used as mulches to protect the roots of plants

From the flowers bees make buckwheat-flavored honey. The drug rutin is taken from the leaves and flowers. Rutin is used to reduce high blood pressure and is used in the treatment of radiation injury.

Buckwheat also is planted as a smother crop to stop weed growth; as a cover crop to prevent soil erosion; as “green manure” to add humus to soil; and in out of-the-way places as feed for game birds and animals.

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ANNUAL Plants that grow from seed, blossom, produce fruits and seeds, and die (root and all) within one year are called annuals. Only their seeds live on, to produce new plants in future years. Most annuals live their whole life during one spring-to-fall growing season. Some, called winter annuals, begin to grow in autumn, live through winter, produce seeds, and die the following spring or summer.

Annuals grow wild in most parts of the world. Many of them have long been cultivated (grown) by man. These include such useful plants as corn, wheat, rice, other cereal grains, peas, and beans. Annual garden flowers have blossoms of different color, shape, size, and blooming times. Petunias, sweet peas, and zinnias are examples of annual flowers. Many weeds are also annuals.

Plants that are annuals under some conditions may be biennials or even perennials. For example, some weeds grow as annuals where winters are very cold, but are biennials to warmer climates.

ANEMONE , or windflower. The anemone is a flower of the buttercup family. The plants grow two or three feet high with their leaves on the flower stem. They bloom in the spring, summer, and autumn. Usually, only one flower grows on a stem. The leaves are usually divided, with sharply cut edges.

The wood anemone is the most common variety in North America, growing even in high mountain areas. One species, known as the pasque flower, is the South Dakota state flower. The anemone also grows in England and Central Europe. Perhaps one of the most unusual varieties is the Japanese anemone, which grows up to three feet high and has flowers about three inches across.

The wild type is either white or white tinged with pink. Cultivated varieties, and even pink wild varieties growing in the shade, may have pink, rose, red, or even purple blossoms that are often two inches wide. Under cultivation, the petal-like sepals are numerous and form double flowers. The slender, green stem of the woodland plants creeps along the surface of the ground. Many of the cultivated types have very short, thick root tubers from which new plants grow. The plants come up each year from the same rootstock and, for this reason, are called perennials.

Anthurium is the name of a large genus of flowering plants native to tropical regions (Tropical Flowers) in North and South America. There are about 1,100 species of anthuriums. They grow wild chiefly in rain forests. They also are cultivated in greenhouses and gardens.

Many wild anthuriums wrap around tree trunks and branches, though some grow along the ground. Most anthuriums have large evergreen leaves shaped like hearts. In some species, the leaves are lobed or separated.

The pink flamingo; also, is one of the most commonly cultivated anthuriums. Anthuriums are grown for their beautiful leaves and brightly colored leaf like spathes, rated into fingerlike leaflets. Anthuriums bear very small flowers tightly packed on a cylindrical fleshy stalk called a spadix. The spadix rises from a shiny, leaf-like spathe, which is often brightly colored.

One of the most commonly cultivated anthuriums is the pink flamingo, also called flamingo lily. This plant has a bright pink spathe that lasts several weeks. Gardeners also grow anthuriums for their attractive leaves. The leaf veins of some species are outlined in pale green to silvery white against a dark green or purple background.

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