for a Window Garden

* Rev. Anselm M. Keefe, St. Norbert College, West De Pere, Wisconsin

Selected plants for specific demonstrations in botany and ecology can be grown on laboratory window shelves with minimal expenditure of time and money, as long as normal care is taken to provide light, moisture, nutrition and to avoid infestation. The list of shade- loving plants is encouragingly long. This talk was given to the AIBS in Boulder, Colorado, August, 1964.

Introduction As an example of what can be done in a north-facing laboratory, you will please note If you were ushered into our botany labo- that under each set of windows there is a row

ratory, your first observation, like that of Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 of shallow supply cupboards for all sorts of many before you, might well be: "What on occasionally used dry or preserved materials, earth is all this junk for?" The answer goes and extra laboratory equipment (Fig. 1). back a few years to the morning shortly after Resting on these are four or five-foot galva- World War It when we were snipping differ- nized iron pans, 4" deep and 12" wide. These ent pollen-bearing anthers into a 12%,osugar simplify watering problems and maintain ade- solution in the hope of showing the next day's quate humidity especially during the winter lab section the germination of pollen tubes. months when the heat is on. Each pan is Watching the process was a visiting agent for marked with a red "D" for dry, a blue "M" a prominent scientific supply house. "What for moist, or a purple "W" for wet indi- are you doing?" he asked. We and explained, cating whether the plant pots held there con- evoked another question: "Do you mean that tain xerophytes, mesophytes, or hydrophytes. you give your botany students live materials Due to the lack of direct sunlight (except to work on?" Assured that we cut our use of in the three east windows in the early morn- fixed materials to the absolute minimum, and ings), we have had to concentrate on plants that we used living materials whenever possi- such as those the foresters and ecologists call ble, since we had a quaint belief that we were ."tolerant,"which thrive in more or less shady teaching one of the life sciences, he shook his conditions. By a process of elimination, we head and remarked: "All we ever had when have reduced our plant population to a mini- I took biology laboratory was a microscope, mum of such tolerant genera and . a lab manual, I and a box of slides. If had Suggestions for this process came from the been given live materials to work on when I was a student in biology, I probably would not have majored in chemistry." This incident reinforced conclusions we ar- rived at during three and one-half war years in the lush green jungles of northern Aus- tralia, Papua, and the Philippine Islands. The profusion of living plants so readily available there might spark some interest in our stu- .. t : | ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~J~ ~. ~.I : dents if such plants could be grown in our laboratory. The research greenhouse at our school is so far from our present botany laboratory and our northern Wisconsin winters are so unpre- dictable, we were forced to experiment with /f ...... whatever forms could be grown on the win- dow ledges of the laboratory. This room serves not only for general botany, but in al- ternating years for plant , dendr- ology, ecology, and economic botany.

118 PLANTSFOR A WINDOW GARDEN 119 most unusual places. Gannon's, "Decorating with House Plants," was very helpful. An old book, datingback to 1861, E. J. Lowe's, "BeautifulLeaved Plants,"published in Lon- don, suggestedmany others. Pteridophytes We have found that old, or cracked,-and thereforeuseless aquaria-make excellentvi- variafor growingliverworts and ferns through- out the year. All one needs besides appropri- ::<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.g...... ate soils, is plate glass covers, which can be ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....::...... :\:::::::.:. ... R... secured from glaziers who are only too glad Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 to cut them to size out of broken store windows Of course, any florist can supply the old- : : * fashionedBoston fern, (Nephrolepisspecies) * ::...

..* ...... which will grow every contentedly in the . ;...... ::. . wateringpans with other plants. Polystichum :::.:..^ ...... x- braunii (Braun's holly fern) thrives in the northernmostcounties of Wisconsin, as well tropicals, it knows no seasonal cycles of as in our vivarium. It producesplentiful sup- growth. are constantly drying up and plies of spore-bearingleaves for macroscopic falling off even as they are being replaced. study, and the microscopic investigationof Janitors have no scientific appreciation for it. the sori with their indusia and spore-loaded We have grown Cyperus alternifolius, a real capsules. hydrophyte that will grow in water, but it Gymnosperms proved to be easy picking for the wooly aphis. Northern conifers, as may well be im- With all the dwarf palms one sees in flo- agined,do not thrive in the laboratory. With rist shops we have had poor success. The tropicaltypes, however, it is a differentmat- coconut (Cocos nucifera), however, is worth ter. For several years we have had both experimenting with. A live coconut from Tur- Podocarpus macrophylla and Araucaria ex- tox was soaked in warm water for two weeks, celsa (Norfolk Island Pine) both thrivingin then partially buried in moist vermiculite. the laboratory, the latter demanding more Six months later the first roots broke through and more room as it progressedfrom large to largerpots. In our library aquarium we grow only Valisneria(Tape or Eel Grass) and a male species of Anacharis canadensis, which does yeoman's duty in the study of the cell, os- mosis, gas elimination,and photo-synthesis. The screw pines are now representedonly by Pandanus veitchii, a clean little slow- grower with marked white and green longi- tudinalstriping (Fig. 2). We used to support a large Pandanus sandersii, with brilliant yel- low and green stripesand vicious saw-toothed leaves. It finally outgrew its usefulness and we haven'tgot aroundto replacingit. Monocots The onlytropical grass we haveis a Bambusa nana, the dwarf bamboo (Fig. 3). It is a messy plant to have around,since, like most 120 THE AMERICANBIOLOGY TEACHER the husk. Shortly afterwards the small pri- When it gets pot-bound it starts to show its mary leaves appeared. By the end of summer calla-like green , excellent examples the first fan appeared. It is now producing of the spathe and spadix structure. They its seventh leaf. As may be suspected, it takes are much easier to grow than Anthuriums pride of place as "eye wash" for transient with which we have had no luck at all. visitors, most of whom have never seen a When we come to the Dieffenbachias we coconut tree, much less one in the process of are off to the races (Fig. 4). They grow becoming. In the tropics the winds keep the prodigiously in the lab and elsewhere. We leaves well broken into feathery strips, one have seen one that was fifteen feet tall in a to each parallel vein. Lacking this climato- grocery store, but with 12 feet of naked stalk, logical assistance, we have to give the plant it was hardly the kind of decoration one leaves manual assistance to separate the seg- would care to have in a home, office, or lab- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 ments,-not of course, because it is neces- oratory. Dieffenbachias come in more than sary, but for the esthetics of the thing. We 40 different varieties. The commonest are feel, however, that keeping the leaves seg- D. picta and D. seguine, but there are in- mented cuts down the accumulation of labo- numerable variations. They well deserve their ratory dust on the leaves. West Indies name of "dumb cane," said to be caused by uninstructed people chewing Arums the stalks and suffering subsequent throat Probably no group of indoor plants has a paralysis for several days. Satisfactory as more diverse and varied number of species these plants are in the lab, they must be than the . This needs no further proof handled with care. As the stalk elongates, it than a look at the average interior decorator's is usual to cut off the leafy top and re-root offerings. We have found the , it in water and then cut up the rest of the DiefJenbachias, Monsteras, Philodendrons, stalk into three- or four-node lengths. In Scindapsus, and Syngoniums equally cooper- water they will root at the lower nodes, and ative as long as they have plenty of water. start leaves at the topmost. The basal roots They are all hydrophytes, liking a damp soil, of the old plant will generally put out coppice and one can overwater with no fear of tem- growth of one or more shoots. Handling the peramental results. The Monsteras, Philoden- cuttings should be done with care. The stalk drons, and Scindapsus are climbers or trailers. cells are loaded with toxic crystals of cal- Monstera in the wild often reaches to the cium oxalate. They have a numbing effect on top of 100 ft coconut palms, forming a leafy the skin unless one uses rubber gloves. This retreat much favored by various members of is definitely not a plant for the home, espe- the parrot family, and, during the war, by snipers. In our lab we have had two which with a little assistance reached the ceiling, and then proceeded to blossom. (This has already been published and figured in the 1957 American Biology Teacher. It needs no further description here). Potted Monsteras on every lab table give the finest macroscopic example of adventitious rooting we know. They are so much easier than the miserable little Tradescantia or Zebrina nubbins we used when we were assisting in the botany labs at the University of Wisconsin. Philoden- drons are as common as potatoes in every unimaginative house or office planter so we shall merely give them a bow and pass them up. They are easy to get, root well in the lab, and add a bit of green. modestum (Chinese Evergreen) is a welcome addition to the lab window box. PLANTS FOR A WINDOW GARDEN 121 cially if there are children around. (J.A.M.A., 29 June 1963). There are so many house-broken Brome- liads to be found in the better florist shops it would be a waste of time to list them, either by their trade names, or taxonomically. Be- tween the two there are sometimes wide dif- ferences. We have one odd form, Billbergia nutans, popularly known as the "Queens Tears." It produces showy red floral bracts, and clusters of drooping steel blue and green flowers. Of no teaching importance, it is Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 only taxonomically interesting. Once you get the Commelinas, either the Tradescantias or Zebrinas started in the lab- oratory, you will always have them with you. They re-root easily if they do not self-sow from flowers. The stamen hairs of the flowers are, as the old-time English and German botanists used to point out, really interesting cellular structures. Rhoeo discolor, has dark mottled leaves (Fig. 5). Known as "the green leaves with dark purple undersides and Mother-in-Law's Tongue," their leaves dem- curious floral cups which give it the quaint onstrate a species of fiber, the bow string name "Moses in the Cradle." hemp. Occasionally they send up a tall, slender spike of greenish-white miniature lily- Liliaceae like flowers Members of the lily family can be repre- Probably no class-room demonstration can sented by Chlorophytum elatum, a kitchen equal the thrill of seeing the pollen being plant which produces vegetative offspring on transferred from the stamens of one showy long runners, with sprays of small lily-type A maryllis to the stigma of another flowers, giving it the odd name of the "Spider (which has, of course, been destaminated). Plant." It is an excellent plant to un-pot and Performed early in the semester, the seed after washing the dirt away, display the pods will form and grow to maturity in time cluster of rhizomatous radish-white storage for the seeds to be distributed to interested roots students. These are taken to dormitories or Aloes are very welcome and easily grown homes and planted. They germinate readily, window plants. From their cross-sectioned much to the delight and surprise even of leaves one gets beautiful macroscopic dem- sophisticated college students. One word of onstrations of water-storage cells that do not caution may be in order. The flat-flowered need a dissecting microscope to see. Bailey and gorgeous Dutch hybrids are generally lists at least 11 varieties, most with thickened sterile, therefore useless for our purposes. succulent leaves. We find that the spiny A. Since I have previously published on the ferox strains are thicker and easier to grow use of Cannas in the lab, there is little use than A. vera, or the attractive A. variegata, to go into that here. (See Horticulture, Nov. which goes by the descriptive name of "Part- 1959). ridge Breast." Another eyestopper is a Banana shrub A sparagus sprengeri, with its tuberous (Musa paraclaisica escutenta) from a Florida roots, is taxonomically interesting, especially friend for its green needle-like cladodes, and modi- fied thorn-like leaves. This anomaly is easy Dicots to grow on a north window. Moving over into the Dicotyledonous For sheer ruggedness and drought resist- plants we offer a sturdy old soldier, eldest ance, nothing can equal the Sanseveiras, some of all our plants, the fiddle-leaved fig, Ficus with longitudinal yellow striping, and cross- pandurata. It grows well even away from the 122 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER window, and may occasionallyproduce one fashion, reminiscentof the way strawberry or two terminal figs. They are woody and plants reproduce,-that is by producingrun- inedible, but sectioned longitudinally,they ners. It is Saxifraga sarmentosa, generally demonstratethe typical fig fruit, a synconium known as the "StrawberryGeranium." of fleshy cells with the flowersor seeds inside Given fresh seeds it is not hard to grow an ovoid receptacle. the often described Sensitive Plant, Mimosa After the Christmasholidays one can usu- Pudica, on a partiallysunny east window. It ally pick up any number of pots of sadly will blossom and set its own seeds in the bedraggledbut once beautifulPoinsettias. We laboratory accept the red ones for the pots and throw There is one Poinsettiathat we have been the plants away. They are not worth bother- quite successfulwith. It is the white variation ing with in north and east windows. Planted of Euphorbia pulcherrima. Rigorously cut Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 with the Poinsettias one often sees feathery back in Januaryand again in August it pro- stalks of the Grevillea robusta, used proba- duces somewhatsmaller, but fully acceptable bly for the foliage contrast with the coarse flowersfor the holiday season. Euphorbialeaves. A member of a primitive Of all the useful plants to demonstrate Australianfamily, the Proteaceae, Grevillea plant structureswe find the common blue may reach three or four feet in height and Passion flower, Passifiora caerulea, by far the always provokes interestingquestions. The biggest white elephant in our labora- tory is a tub of Bougainvilles glabra, a gift from a friendlyflorist. It is a vigorousgrower, needs constant pruning, and flowers two or three times a year. The so-called flowers are, like the Poinsettias, made up of colored bracts. The darkerred or purplevarieties, as anyone who has visited Mexico knows, are spectacularfence and arborcoverings. Discovered in a discardedplanter, one of our most unusual specimensis a vine, Bous- signaultia gracilis, otherwise known as the Madeira,or Mignonettevine. If permittedto do so, it will climb all over the laboratory, so we always have a plentiful supply of slightly succulent leaves from the underside of which stomata-filledepidermal layers can be stripped. Boussignaultia reproduces by tuberous roots. It flowers in October, with pencil-thin fragrant spikes of small white flowers. best (Fig. 6). It is a climber with a most Among the succulent Crassulas the best prodigal supply of tendrils. The five-lobed and easiest grown is Kalanchoe pinnata, the palmate leaves are as heavily stipuled as the "air plant" which around the year produces garden pea. Each has two or three viable young plants from the meristematic glands, which may also be found under the tissue. These appear in the indentationson leaf. These exude a small droplet of some the edges of the leaf. Students like to take sort of sweetishfluid. The plant roots well in the small plants along to develop in their water, so it is easy to reproduce. rooms. The followingother formshave been grown The Saxifragescontribute Tolmeia to north indoors with a fair amount of success: Abu- window growth. This fuzzy little plant pro- tilon hybridum, the "Flowering Maple;" Ar- duces adventitiousplants in the sinusesof the disia crispa with its persistent red berries; leaf blades,giving it the descriptivenickname, Barleria cristata with funnel-shaped blue "The Piggy Back Plant." Another Saxifrage flowers; Bouvardia longiflora with its fragrant does its vegetativereproducing in a different white trumpets; Cestrum nocturnum, the PLANTSFOR A WINDOW GARDEN 123

"Night Jessamine" which scents up not only Strelitzia, the Australian Umbrella Tree the whole laboratory, but most of the building (Schefflera actinophylla) and a lot of other at night; Cordyline terminalis, the Hawaiian plants which have succumbedto their attacks "Ti" tree, which faintly resemble the huge and wound up in the garbagepail. travellers palm in its leafing habit; species of multicolored Coleus, to demonstrate the Useful References square stemmed Labiatae; Euphorbia oxy- Bailey, L. H. Manual of cultivated plants. Mac- millan, New York, 1949. petalum, the "Night Blooming Cereus;" Ficus Gannon, R. Decorating with house plants. T. Y. carica, the true fig which never fruits without Crowell, New York, 1952. the fig fly; Ficus elastica, the common rubber Graf, A. B. Exotica. Roehrs Company, Rutherford, plant, once a status symbol in this country N. J., 1957. (like the Cockney "Aspidistra in the Parlor;") Lowe, E. J. Beautiful leaved plants. Groombridge and Sons, London, 1861. leuconeura, the "Prayer Plant;" the Rockwell and Grayson. Gardening indoors. Mac- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/27/2/118/21182/4440854.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Opuntias, especially linguiformis and brasil- millan, New York, 1938. iensis, which obligingly set out rows of small Wood, A. H. Grow them indoors. Hale Cushman green deciduous leaves if watered heavily a and Flint, Boston, 1936. few weeks before being needed, thus dem- onstrating photosynthetic stems with very Guidelines for Improving College temporary green leaves; rubra, the Science Programs popular house plant with the woody tubers This interesting booklet describes a confer- and pink flowers; actinophylla, the Schefflera ence held April 29-30, 1964 at Harrisburg, Australian umbrella tree; and finally Strelitzia Pennsylvania under the sponsorship of the reginae, the "Bird of Paradise Flower," which Pennsylvania Academy of Science and the will actually blossom for you if you can keep Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruc- the aphids off. tion in cooperation with NSTA. are Catalogs full of plants we have tried The conference was held in an attempt to to grow, in vain. So are the greenhouses. The identify problems and suggest steps for im- worst pest we have had to contend with is proving college science programs for training the a wooly aphis, pinkish thing that covers future research scientists and science teachers. its eggs with masses of white fluff. Every time A limited number of free copies are avail- we succumb to the temptation of a new plant able from NSTA, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W., in a cheap store, we have a fresh infestation. Washington, D.C. 20036. Green houses use different methods of gas extermination for these insect pests and are much safer to patronize. So far our best con- WHO? trol results have been with a spraying mixture the truth of the theory which proposes of Black Leaf 40 (Nicotine Sulfate) and that plant tissue is composed of juxtaposed Malathion, in water to which a teaspoon of vesicular organs and more or less strongly "Duz" or some other soap has been added agglutinated together. Although I am not the to act as a wetting agent. The popular laundry first to have announced this truth I flatter detergents simply will not work. This mixture myself that it will be recognized that I have has to be used with care, wearing a mask and done more than anyone else to establish it rubber gloves. It must not be sprayed on any upon a solid foundation as a general fact by of the succulents. They have to be washed means of the discovery I have made that boil- with a sharp jet of water to remove the ing nitric acid has the power to dissociate, aphids. even in the hardest parts of the plant tissue, If I were a graduate adviser in a school of all the small hollow organs which, by their horticulture I'd like to set some brighter-than- combination, constitute that tissue; this acid average student onto a study of the propen- is the only one which produces this effect." sity for some plants to attract and harbor the Gabriel, M. L., and S. Fogel (Eds.). Great wooly aphis. Particularly hospitable to these Experiments in Biology, Prentice-Hall, Inc., unwanted visitors are all the Amaryllids, the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1955, p. 9. Dieffenbachias, Asparagus sprengeri; Hoya Answer: R. J. H. Dutrochet. Fifteen years carnosa (the wax plant), Impatients, Oxalis, before Schleiden and Schwann.