TOP TROPICALS ONLINE STORE: Seeds, Bulbs, and Things

Okra, Bamia, Gombo. Beautiful, pale-yellow flowers. The pods and leaves are edible, and young pods can be used in stir-fry and soups either blanched or pickled. When cooked it resembles asparagus, yet it may be left raw and served in a cold salad.

A. baileyana is used in Europe in the cut flower industry as "Mimosa" for a traditional Woman's day, given to all women. Heavy bloomer with fragrant yellow flowers and long curved pods. This plant is adaptable and easy to grow. Hardy to 34F. Height up to 28'. Can be grown in containers.
Soak seeds overnight in hot water. Cover seeds with 3/8" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Can be slow to germinate.

The acacia catechu, or cutch, tree is a large, thorny tree with flowering bark and seeds that are often used for herbal medication. The acacia catechu is indigenous to India, China and other parts of Asia. The bark from the acacia catechu is used for dying material, fishing nets and leather tanning. The drug catechu is prepared from A. catechu.

Silver Wattle, Blue Wattle. Native to Australia, Acacia dealbata is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in warm temperate regions of the world. The flowers and tip shoots are harvested for use as cut flowers, when it is known by florist trade as "Mimosa". In Italy, Albania, Russia and Georgia the flowers are also frequently given to women on International Womens Day. The essence of the flowers, called 'cassie' or 'opopanax', is used in perfumes. The leaves are sometimes used in Indian chutney. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.
Soak seeds overnight in hot water. Cover seeds with 3/8" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Can be slow to germinate.

Black Wattle. Tradicional Mimosa plant for Women's day in Europe. Acacia decurrens is a tall shrub or small tree with bipinnate foliage. The dark green foliage contrasts with the bright yellow spring flowers. Plant after soaking in warm water until swollen.

This is one of South Africa's most beautiful and useful trees. It is integrally part of Africa's history having been used for everything from raft-making to sewing needles and fencing for the houses of the royal Zulu women. The thorns were even used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected!
Bark used in tanning, rope making and production of edible gum. The root is used in traditional medicine.

Fever tree is an attractive, semi-deciduous to deciduous tree. The characteristic, almost luminous, lime green to greenish-yellow bark is smooth, slightly flaking, and coated in a yellow powdery substance. If the powdery surface is rubbed away with the finger it will reveal a green bark beneath. It has a slender to spreading, sparse, roundish crown of feathery foliage. The thorns are long, straight and paired. This species occurs in groups in low-lying swampy areas. Because its range coincides with regions where malaria is prevalent, it is called "Fever Tree."

Toothache Plant, Botox Plant. A medicinal herb that has been used for generations to manage the pain of toothaches. Both the leaves and the attractive golden flowers can be used as a natural anesthetic. Simply chew the leaves or flowers for a few seconds then you will experience a tingling and numbing sensation in your mouth. Cooked leaves lose their strong flavor and may be used as leafy greens. Both fresh and cooked leaves are used in dishes such as stews in northern Brazil. Flavor is described as having an odor of citrus, herbal, tropical or musty odor, and its taste can be pungent, cooling, tingling, numbing, or effervescent. Acmella Oleracea extract is considered a natural alternative to Botox. Applied topically, Acmella Oleracea reportedly reduces muscle tension, reducing facial wrinkles caused by tense or contracted facial muscles. Can be grown in a container and as a houseplant.

Pink Cedar, Balangi, Kurungatti. Large deciduous emergent tree native to Banglades with showy red flowers.

Japanese Kiwi cultivar Issai begins fruiting the second year - no pollinator needed! Compact enough to grow in a container. It brings the beauty and flavor of kiwifruit to your garden without the giant size. This mini-Kiwi has a restrained habit, needs no pollinator, and sets the most delicious miniature fruit. In the garden or even in containers, you will find it easy and rewarding.
This deciduous vine is much less vigorous than other varieties - it grows easily but won't take over the garden. A twining climber, it offers glossy foliage, fragrant 1-inch white blooms in early summer, and a generous harvest of 1- to 1 3/4-inch fruit in mid-fall.
Issai has a really remarkable flavor, much sweeter and more succulent than the fuzzy kiwis found in most stores. The fruit is smooth, green, and just a little soft when fully ripe.
Best of all, Issai is self-fertile, so you need plant only one. It thrives in full sun to partial shade, and prefers good soil on the acidic side. Do not fertilize this vine too heavily; this can trigger lush foliage growth but poor flowering and fruiting.
It fruits somewhat late, making it a great choice for southern climates as well. You simply cannot go wrong with this delightful mini Kiwi! Zones 4-9.

Kiwi Fruit. This lovely twiner with its fuzzy leaves, is ideal for trellis growing. The plant is a vigorous, woody vine (liana) or climbing shrub. The flowers are fragrant, dioecious or bisexual. Male and female flowers appear on different plants and both sexes have to be planted in close proximity for fruit set.

Red Sandalwood, Saga. Popular Indian tree with many uses. The tiny flowers are said to smell vaguely like orange blossoms. The seeds are used in necklaces and ornaments, as beads in jewellery, leis and rosaries. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the trees provide shade and planted as "nurse trees" in coffee, clove and rubber plantations. Seeds are roasted and then eaten with rice in Java, Indonesia. In Melanesia and Polynesia people call it the "food tree". The seeds are said to taste like soy bean. A red powder made from the wood is used as an antiseptic paste.
Plant seeds 1" deep in otting mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Scarify to expedite germination.

Aechmea tillandsioides is a showy exotic bromeliad native to southern Mexico, Central and northern South America. It is widely cultivated in other regions as a tropical ornamental. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius and is a real must for all plant enthusiasts.

Bael, Bengal quince, Indian bael, Wood apple, Matoom. The fruits taste like marmelade, and smell like roses. The offering of bael leaves is a compulsory ritual of the worship of Lord Shiva in the hills. This importance seems largely due to its medicinal properties. All parts of this tree, root, leaf, trunk, fruit and seed, are used for curing one human ailment or another.
Plant seeds as soon as received using well draining soil mixture, keep damp, warm and in bright light.

Silk Mimosa. This fast growing tree has attractive fragrant pom-pom- like flowers, and interesting fern-like foliage. In late winter or spring, the domed crown is decked in sprays of small, globular, off-white to baby-pink flower heads. Prefers a rich, light, well drained soil. The flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds.
Place seeds in a cup of boiling water and allow to soak overnight. Plant 1/2" deep in sandy mix. Keep warm, damp and in bright light. Can be slow to germinate.

Very attractive ever-blooming vine or shrub with bright yellow trumpet-like flowers. Night-scented flowers year-round.

Allspice, Jamaica Pepper, pimento tree. Leaves and bark also contain the allspice scent. Excellent container plant for indoor or greenhouse culture. This spice scent will be with you right away and will stay all the time, don't have to wait till bloom or fruit.
Cover seeds with 3/8" well-drained soil mix, keep warm, damp and in bright light. Do not keep wet. High humidity.

Alpinia or Renealmia aromatica is a robust, perennial herbaceous plant, producing clumps of sterile stems 4-7ft tall, exceptionally to 12 ft, from a rhizomatous rootstock. The plant also produces smaller, flowering stems 1-2 ft tall. Leaves and flowers are ginger-aromatic, hence the name. It is native to S. America - Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana; C. America - Panama to Mexico; Caribbean - Leeward and Windward Isles to Cuba.
The fruits are sometimes gathered from the wild for local use as a flavoring in soups, and the plant also has minor local medicinal uses.

Alpinia malaccensis is cultivated for ornamental and medicinal purposes. It is a native of Indonesia and Malaysia. An oil is obtained from dried rhizome. The rhizomes are ginger-scented. Likes a slightly acid soil. Tubular flowers in droopy clusters. The flowers come mostly in summer.

Alpinia zerumbet is called a "shell ginger" or "shell flower" most commonly, because its individual pink flowers, especially when in bud, resemble sea shells. Alpinia zerumbet is close related to Alpinia malaccensis and Alpinia nutans.

Dill. Popular herb - aromatic, used to flavor many foods, such as gravlax (cured salmon), borscht and other soups, and pickles (where sometimes the dill flower is used). Dill is said to be best when used fresh. Dill seed is used as a spice, with a flavor somewhat similar to caraway. Dill seeds were traditionally used to soothe the stomach after meals. And, dill oil can be extracted from the leaves, stems and seeds of the plant. Used in: Teas; seasoning for butter, cakes, bread, vinegars, soups, fish, pickles, salads, etc.; flowers in crafts.
Successful cultivation requires warm to hot summers with high sun levels; even partial shade will reduce the yield substantially. It also prefers rich, well drained soil. The seeds are viable for 3-10 years.

Mountain Soursop, Wild Custard Apple, Guanabana de monte, Wild Soursop. The fruit resembles Soursop but with less sugar and has distinctive pineapple flavor.
The tree is small, evergreen, growing up to 20' tall. It has glossy dark green leaves and the fruit is spherical with a yellowish skin; it is covered with prickles. The pulp contains light brown to orange seeds.

Golden Honey Sugar Apple. This rare Annona is a species originally brought from Costa Rica.
It has a large, up to 1 lb fruit, green when unripe, sometimes with gray to brown spots, turning dark yellow to orange on ripening. The pulp is golden to orange, resembling papaya in color and Jackfruit in texture. Flavor is like the custard apple but with papaya, apricot and melon overtones. Note that some people dislike the taste, others find it good.