Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub
[graphic]

BULL. N. Y. BOT. GARD.

PUBLIC CONSERVATORIES, RANGE I.

our measurements showing that they reached 65 feet in height in 95 days, a rate of about 8 inches a day. The plant has been introduced into the West Indies, and in places where it grows its stems are put to a great variety of uses in construction, for water pipes and for various utensils.

House No. 2 also contains specimens of the palm family, the smaller specimens of tropical species being exhibited here. House No. 3 contains specimens illustrating several families of monocotyledonous plants of tropical regions. The amaryllis family is represented by a number of species of the spider lily (Hymenocallis), bearing large white flowers, the commonest being Hymenocallis caribaea from the sandy coasts of southern Florida and the West Indies; large plants of the genus Crinum, some of which have white flowers and some red or purple, may be seen on the middle bench, and the maguey of the West Indies (a spiny-leaved relative of the century plant, native of the West Indies, and used there for hedges), on the northern bench; this name maguey is also applied in parts of the West Indies to species of A gave, which will be found in house No. 6.

Numerous representatives of the lily family, especially of the genus Dracaena, may be found on the south bench, and these are much used for ornamental planting in the tropics; here also are plants of the genus Sansevieria, the bow-string hemps of Africa; a valuable tough fiber is derived from their leaves; larger plants of the lily family may be found in the adjoining house No. 4, a portion of this house being given over to tall dracaenas and their relatives.

The arrow-root family is illustrated by the arrow-root (Maranta arundinacea), native of South America, but widely cultivated in the West Indies, its roots furnishing the commercial product; Calathea comprises a large number of tropical American plants noteworthy for their fine foliage, and there are other genera represented.

House No. 4. Here are brought together many kinds of large tropical plants belonging to families also represented in the smaller houses, but too tall to be grown on the benches.

The interesting screw-pines, natives of the Old World tropics, are illustrated by several species, the leaves of which are used in the manufacture of mats, hats and baskets. These plants are not at all related to pine trees, the latter part of the name referring to the slight resemblance the leaves bear to those of pineapple plants, which are commonly called pines in the tropics, while the remainder of the name was suggested by the spiral arrangement of the leaves.

In this house may be found large specimens of the aroid family, the most noteworthy one of these being a magnificent plant of Veitch's tail-flower (Anthurium Veitchii), from Colombia, which is believed to be the most elegant plant of its kind in cultivation; climbing on trunks of trees set as supports, will be found a number of vines of the genera Philodendron and Monstera, the latter a native of Mexico, producing an edible fruit with the odor of pineapple.

A large tree of the common rubber plant, much grown in parlors, may be found in the center of this house, reaching to the roof; this is a native of tropical Asia and yields some rubber, but not in as great quantity nor of as good quality as the other rubber trees of South and Central America; it is a species of fig (Ficus elastica); other species of Ficus are shown in this house, notably a fine tree of Roxburgh's fig, which bears its inedible fruit in bunches near the base of the tree, and a specimen of the Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis). Chocolate trees (Theobroma Cacao), native of tropical America, may be found near the western door of this house; the small white flowers are produced on the trunk and on branches, and a few of them develop into the large woody pods containing the seeds or chocolate beans, which are dried and ground up into chocolate and cocoa; specimens illustrating the chocolate industry will be found in the economic museum. The papaya, or papaw, also of tropical America, is illustrated by a tall tree in the middle of this house; its fruit, esteemed as an aid to digestion, is borne just under the crown of leaves. A specimen of the bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa) may also be seen here; originally from the

islands of the Pacific, it was introduced into the West Indies in the latter part of the eighteenth century.

Several interesting tall vines climb on the pillars of this house, among them the night-blooming jessamine (Cestrum Parqui) of tropical America, which opens its flowers after dark and exhales a delicious perfume, the flowers remaining open during part of the morning; Henderson's Allamanda, of Brazil, with its showy large yellow flowers, climbs to the roof.

House No. 5. The plants in this house are from desert regions. Especial attention is called to their fleshy stems or leaves which serve as storage organs for a water supply to carry them over periods of drought. On the right hand bench, as one enters from No. 4, are mainly plants from southern Africa: the carrion flowers (Stapelia), relatives of our common milkweed of the roadsides; Aloe, Gasteria, Haworthia, and other South African representatives of the lily family.

The central bench is entirely devoted to the cactus family, which, with few exceptions, is American. Nearly all these plants are devoid of leaves, these organs, when present, being mostly small and inconspicuous; in the genus Opuntia they are usually present on the young growths as awl-shaped bodies, while in some few species they are much larger and remain for some time; in the genus Pereskia, specimens of which will be found in house No. 7, the leaves are large and well developed. The stems of the cacti are fleshy and assume a great number of forms; in Opuntia the stem is composed of joints, either cylindric or broad and flattened. In Cereus the stems are angled; in Carnegiea they are thick massive columns with many longitudinal ribs; in Echinocactus the plant-bodies are but little elongated, or almost globular, while in other genera the plant-body is covered with rows of spirally arranged projections. The flowers of many cacti are exquisite in form and color; they are borne on various parts of the plant-body, in the turk's-head cactus on a curiously modified portion of the top. A plant of economic interest here is

« FöregåendeFortsätt »