io6 GLASS-HOUSES 



In another spot is confined the neat-growing Salvinia, 

 forming a delicate mossy carpet floating on the surface of 

 the water. 



Water Plantains, Alismaceae, are represented by Limno- 

 charisflava and emarginata and Echinodorus macrophyllum. 



The pretty Hydrophyllaceous Plant, Hydrolea spinosa from 

 Surinam, may also be seen in the tank, and in 1864 the 

 Madagascar Lattice Leaf Plant, Ouvirandra fenestralis> was 

 grown, and we have had it on several occasions since, but 

 it requires running water for its healthy development. The 

 leaves look as if they had undergone maceration, the in- 

 terstices between the veins being open. The roots are 

 cooked and eaten by the natives, who call it the Water 

 Yam. 



Two or three of the tropical Grasses of vigorous habit have 

 occasionally been grown. One of these is the Sugar-cane, from 

 whose closely jointed stem is extracted the saccharine juice, 

 which we convert by boiling into syrup. 



Another species of grass, which from its size might almost 

 be mistaken for a palm, is the Bamboo, Bambusa arundinacea^ 

 a plant which in the tropics rises to the height of more than 

 100 ft. in a season, and at Kew has been measured to grow 

 10 in. in twenty-four hours ! 



On the shelves next the glass will be noticed several beauti- 

 ful members of the Lily Order. 



Most noteworthy, perhaps, are the singular flowers of the 

 plants related to Gloriosa superba^ a name assigned by 

 Linnaeus himself, who likened the scarlet undulated segments 

 of its corolla to so many tongues of flame. Its long style is 

 very singular, as it points horizontally, and appears, where 

 it springs from the ovary, as if broken at its base. 



G. abyssinica and G. rothschildiana have both flowered in 

 recent years. 



To the P i n e - A p p 1 e Order, BROMELIACEAE, belong 

 Billbergia^ Aechmea, Karatas^ Ortgiesia, and Pitcairnia ; also. 



