28 SEPTEMBER 1934, Page 16

A Savoury Pod It is astounding how many semi-tropical plants

may be in some measure persuaded to flourish in England. For example, there is another pod-bearing exotic plant that has horticultural though not agricultural possibilities. It was shown seductively at several horticultural shows by Messrs. Sutton. The name is Martynia fragrans. It is much used in South America for making a fragrant soup. It is, of course, a hot country plant ; but if sown in May grows hardily and is well worth cultivating as a border plant or in a border of annuals. It is interesting in flower and growth, with a sugges- tion of the gloxinia. A similar plant, used in America for similar purposes, is known as Okra or Gumbo, but it grows very much taller than the martynia, which is of a spreading habit and seldom exceeds a foot in height. We are perhaps apt to be a little too conservative in our choice of flowers. Even in such a temple of beauty as the garden there is room for the gargoyle (though martynia is no gargoyle), and the grotesque or the curious or unusual—for an aerial onion or a fastigiate cherry or a bean coloured like the rainbow.