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Crape myrtles are summer's hot flower

This column by former Miami Herald writer Georgia Tasker has run in earlier editions. Name: Crape myrtle Botanical name: Lagerstroemia indica

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Lovely lotus is symbol of purity

This column by former Miami Herald writer Georgia Tasker has run in earlier editions. Name: Lotus. Botanical name: Nelumbo nucifera `Green Maiden.'

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Patient pineapple growers reap sweet reward

Botanical name: Ananas comosus; Ananas bracteatus and other cultivars. Description: When truly fresh, a pineapple is one of the tropic's great gifts, with juicy flesh and a distinctive aroma. Originally from southern Brazil and Paraguay, the fruit was taken to Europe by Columbus and it was spread by explorers and traders.

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Colorful bleeding heart just loves to climb a trellis

Name: Magenta bleeding heart. Botanical name: Clerodendrum thomsoniae `Delectum'. Description: A vivid and vining clerodendrum with large panicles that is twining its way up supports on columns around the Garden House at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Usually bleeding heart is red and white. This form is magenta and red, with dark green leaves, and offers a powerful show of color this time of year. Mary Collins, senior horticulturist at the garden, says this vine flowers year-round.

Colorful Pom Pom stands tall and proud

Botanical name: Epidendrum 'Pom Pom' (Epi. Star Valley X Epi. Joseph Lii) Description: This hybrid reed-stem Epidendrum orchid inflorescence is the size of a softball with flowers that are a beautiful yellow with hints of red. It and the other reed-stems are perfect for beginning growers because they're adaptable to a variety of conditions and they're in full bloom now. There has been a flurry of hybridizing activity with these orchids, so they now come in shades ranging from white to pink, lavender...

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South American caladium can take the heat

Name: Caladium Botanical name: Caladium picturatum Description: A South American plant that resides in Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil and Peru, this species has quite narrow, elongated leaves. It can be difficult to find, but it's not the only kid on the block. Many exquisitely colored caladium hybrids (Caladium X hortulanum) are available and will serve with distinction through the coming hot months. If protected, they even weather the winter. I have a container of caladiums nestled next to the pond...

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Superbum is a super grower in one backyard

Botanical name: Dendrobium superbum. Description: This is an exceptionally fine plant that George Cosgrove of Kendall has grown in his yard. Here's his description:

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White bougainvillea is a standout

Name: Bougainvillea Botanical name: Bougainvillea cultivars Description: Of the many cultivars of bougainvillea, white may often be overlooked in favor of the those with brilliantly colored bracts, such as Barbara Karst, Royal Purple, Jamaica Red, California Gold and many more. But if planting large, vining bougainvilleas on a fence, consider inserting a white shrub every so often and you will be delighted with how it shows off and even highlights the colors of its neighbors. There are many white...

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Shell ginger plant resembles a seashell

Name: Shell ginger. Botanical name: Alpinia zerumbet. Description: A plant that spreads on underground rhizomes, forming stands or clumps, this shell ginger produces long clusters of terminal flowers that are as beautiful in bud as when they open from spring through summer. Each flower has a pair of white, porcelain-like bracts tinged with pink that enclose it. Then, a golden flower yawns open to reveal its scarlet throat with long streaks of red flowing to the end of the lip. Use shell ginger as...

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Brazilian bromeliad adds color to the garden

Botanical name: Portea alatisepala Description: A bromeliad for use in a mass planting bed, where many can paint a lovely tropical picture. This Brazilian species has narrow leaves edged in small spines. This is a reddish-leaf form, with red tint on the undersides of the leaves.

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Maidenhair fern prefers a rocky existence

Name: Common maidenhair fern, southern maidenhair fern. Botanical name: Adiantum capillus-veneris. Description: Delicate leaflets called pinnae dangle from thin black stalks called stipes on this lovely fern that knows every nuance of air movement that crosses its path. In the hammocks of South Florida -- and at the Deering Estate -- maidenhair ferns grow on the limestone walls of solution holes, created when decaying leaves and twigs eat into the limestone rock beneath the thin layer of soil, causing...

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Purple and white queen just loves our climate

Name: Blc. Shining Harmony ``Volcano Queen'' Description: This is a hybrid cattleya with a beautifully frilled purple lip, golden throat and white sepals and petals, a combination that catches my eye in just about every form. The flowers are large, yet the plant is medium-size and doesn't take up huge amounts of room in the shade house. It flowers annually, but it's worth the wait.

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Wildlife love the fruit of this native shrub

Name: Red-tip cocoplum Botanical name: Chrysobalanus icaco Description: A shrub native to the Everglades (often seen on the fringes of alligator holes) and throughout the Caribbean, cocoplum can be managed as a four- to five-foot specimen or allowed to grow large. The oval leaves are dark green, and on the red-tipped form, new growth is mahogany to red. Its white flowers are small, and appear throughout the year. Fruits are white to red to purple, and are excellent for wildlife. This is a good choice...

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Bats pollinate the rare exotic cannon ball tree

Name: Cannon ball tree. Botanical name: Couroupita guianensis. Description: A bat-pollinated flower of this tree is one of the most distinctive among tropical exotics. Six coral to peach-colored petals are arranged around a disc; anemone-like anthers hold sterile pollen, while the real pollen is found on short bristly white stamens surrounding the pistil. The flower is aromatic and occurs on panicles that sprout from long, rope-like branches on the lower trunk. Big round hard-shelled fruits that...

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Fanciful colors, patterns enhance these hybrids

Name: Chinese evergreen Botanical name: Aglaonema Thai hybrids Description: Fabulous new hybrids of this reliable house plant are coming out of Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. I recently spotted these beautiful examples at the weekend market in Bangkok. Once these low-light house plants from Southeast Asia and the Philippines were found in shades of green, silver and cream. Gradually, the patterns of these basic shades became more fanciful. The colorful hybrids have been appearing in the...

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South American beauty has a ball of flowers

Name: Flor de rosa, rose of Venezuela, scarlet flame bean Botanical name: Brownea coccinea subspecies capitella Description: A gorgeous orange-red ball of flowers characterizes this leguminous shrub/small tree that is native to northern South America, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago. The stamens are golden yellow and joined at the base, topped with golden anthers, adding liveliness and depth to the spectacular flower clusters that appear from late winter to spring.

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Bold flowers, tall trunk define silk cotton tree

Name: Silk cotton tree Botanical name: Bombax ceiba Description: A flowering tree of great scale that produces fiercely colored red or orange flowers. The silk cotton drops its leaves in late winter, making its bold flowers highly visible.

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Sun sets flame vine aglow

Name: Flame vine Botanical name: Pyrostegia venusta Description: When a western sun strikes it just right, the flame vine seems to ignite with dramatic clusters of slender flowers. The lobes of the flowers curl back to reveal the stigma and stamens, and a day later flowers will drop like spent embers.

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Coffee grower found cycad in rain forest

Botanical name: Zamia tuerckheimii De- scription: A cycad from Guatemala with gracefully arching leaves. Leaflets are glossy, pointed and full on the individual fronds, resulting in a beautiful abundance.

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Elegant bromeliad makes its presence known

Botanical name: Alcantarea odorata Description: A glorious bromeliad that has blue-green leaves covered in a white powder. Use this as a focal point in your garden, as it looks especially lovely against dark green leaves. Related to the Alcantarea imperialis (once called Vreisea imperialis), this plant and its relatives are large, elegantly formed and eye-catching.

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Shrub's flowers look like pieces of blushing popcorn

Name: Guayabilla, cafecito Botanical name: Samyda dodecandra Description: A rare multitrunked shrub or small tree from dry evergreen forests of Mexico, Central America and the West Indies, guayabilla has pretty leaves and small flowers that range from whitish to pink and deep pink. The species name dodecandra means 12 stamens, and if you pull out a hand lens, you can check them out.

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Beach sunflower happiest when dry

Name: Beach sunflower Botanical name: Helianthus debilis subspecies debilis Description: A cheery and bright plant that graces our coastal areas, the beach sunflower performs well in many settings, provided the plants are fairly dry. It grows quickly. It spreads by underground runners, by seed and when a stem hits the ground. The leaves are deltoid shaped and toothed. The flowers are two or three inches across.

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Pods look just like pop beads in this rangy native shrub

Name: Necklace pod Botanical name: Sophora tomentosa var. truncata Description: Until this native shrub develops fruit, it's hard to see why it would be given its common name. Then, when it dangles a few pods, it's a duh moment: of course.

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Dahoon holly tree is happiest in a moist home

Name: Dahoon holly Botanical name: Ilex cassine Description: From the edges of low-lying areas in the Everglades, this true holly is a Florida native useful for planting in areas that retain moisture, perhaps a lakefront. Leaves are leathery and dark green, and when the trees are young, the leaves have a few spines. There are male and female trees; this photo shows the female with red berries. The trunks are whitish, with some gray and black patches, making a lovely contrast to the leaves and fruit...

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This mottled aroid grows large and prickly

Name: Cyrtosperma johnstonii Description: An aquatic and semi-aquatic aroid that comes from somewhere in Oceania, probably the Solomon Islands. This attractive plant has a surprise: beautifully mottled but wickedly armed leaf stems. The upward pointing arrow-shaped leaves are marked with red veins and the petioles or leaf stems are maroon and brown to charcoal. The prickles are short and in bands or spirals around the stems. This makes a show-stopping pond plant when it reaches its mature size, which...

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Small tree may be the devil to find

Name: Cockspur; devil's smooth claws or smooth devil's claws Botanical name: Pisonia rotundata Description: Round, glossy leaves distinguish this small tree that grows only on No Name Key and Big Pine Key and is on the state's endangered species list. It is briefly deciduous and also dioecious, meaning there are male and female trees. Pisonia flowers in the spring.

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Flask philodendron grows in a spiral

Name: Flask philodendron Botanical name: Philodendron martianum (mar-shee-AY-num) Description: A beautiful, slow-growing plant that makes an attractive container specimen. The leaves are substantial and dark green. A central portion of the leaf stalk continues into the blade and tapers at its apex.

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These sweet-smelling phals like humidity, heat

Name: Phalaenopsis violacea Description: A summer blooming species from low-lying and shady riversides in Sumatra, Borneo and Malaya, the small but colorful flowers emit a spice-citrus fragrance that belies their size. Phal. violacea has a wide range of colors. Eric Christenson, author of Phalaenopsis, A Monograph, says ''It is quite likely that these differences represent . . . a more or less continuous gradation from one end of the species range to the other.'' There also are white and even blue...

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Sunrose covers ground in a very colorful way

Name: Baby sunrose Botanical name: Aptenia cordifolia Description: A member of the ice plant family, this South African succulent is a good ground cover for the Florida Keys in particular, but also for rock gardens and sunny, sandy soils. Baby sunrose also makes a good candidate for hanging baskets, according to the University of Florida's Cooperative Extension Service.