THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDES. 



209 



and elegant specimen plants, or to bring along through the season a 

 constant succession of flowers, was not and is not possible. In them, 

 however, are to be seen choice or picturesque specimens of a variety 

 of plants best adapted to the conditions that they offer, and of late 

 vears they have been supplemented by a range of modern houses, 

 which, though small, is sufficiently large for the growth of many 

 plants that are not seen outside of botanical establishments, as well 

 as of those that possess commercial value because of their ready growth 

 and abundant production of flowers. Among the collections of tender 

 plants that are especially 

 worthy of mention are the 

 cacti and agaves, which, the 

 special subjects of much of 

 the work of Engelmann, have 

 long been well represented in 

 the living collections, and have 

 been added to with the passage 

 of time until there are to- 

 day few collections of these 

 groups which surpass or even 

 approach them in size or im- 

 portance. One house is de- 

 voted to representatives of the 

 Bromeliaceae, of which some- 

 thing over 100 species are cul- 

 tivated, and to which others 

 are being added at short inter- 

 vals. One tower is occupied 

 with tender yuccas, which, 

 planted in the ground, are be- 

 ginning to assume a size ami 

 character impossible in the 

 open air in a latitude so far 

 north as that of St. Louis, or 

 in tubbed specimens. In one 

 house are brought together the sago plants, Cycadaceae, of which a 

 fairly good collection is owned by the garden, and added to with every 

 opportunity. In another, are planted out tree-ferns. In others, 

 orchids, already numbering some 600 forms, aroids, in considerable 

 variety, carnivorous plants, acacias and plants of similar foliage, and 

 other groups of particular decorative, economic or biological interest, 

 are displayed, and the provision this season of several new houses for 

 the propagation of plants and for. growing tliose that are needed for 



VCL. LXII. 14. 



Agaves. 



