CALLA (kalla), or calla lily, is a beautiful garden flower of the arum family, or Ar-aceae. It is related to the jack-in-the-pulpit and the skunk cabbage. What looks like the flower of the calla is really a leaf like sheath called a spathe. The true flowers are very small and are inside the spathe. In the common calla the spathe is pure white. There are also yellow and pink varieties.

The calla grows from a bulb. This bulb must be planted in rich well-watered soil. Often it is placed in loam or soil mixed with manure. In most parts of North America it is grown indoors or in a greenhouse.

In California and southern Texas it can be grown outdoors and is planted in parks in great flower beds. The much smaller marsh calla grows wild in swamps in the northern temper-zone.

The most common tropical calla comes from the banks of the Nile River in Egypt it is called calla lily, Ethiopian lily, or common calla. The plant has a 10-inch (25-centimeter) white leaf. The calla lily causes a burning irritation to the mouth and stomach if eaten.

Scientific classification. The calla is in the arum family. Ar-aceae. The common calla is Zantedeschia aethiopica. The water arum is Calla palustris.

CANDYTUFT is a flowering herbal plant of the mustard family, Cruciferae. It is a favorite for both borders and beds in gardens of old-fashioned flowers. The name is supposed to have come from Candia, the early name for the island of Crete. It was brought to England from Crete in the 16th century. The plant grows about a foot high and has white, pink, or purple flower clusters. The three best-known varieties are the purple, the bitter, and the evergreen candytuft.

Another popular garden species, the globe candytuft may reach a height of 16 inches (41 centimeters). Its lavender, pink, or red blossoms grow in dense dusters. Candytuft is the name of about 30 species of plants native to southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Many are cultivated as garden flowers.

Scientific classification. Candytufts belong to the mustard family, Brassicaceae or Cruciferae. The scientific name for the edging candytuft is Iberis sempervirens. The globe candytuft is I. umbellate.

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