TREES AND FLOWERS IN THE NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN 



229 



"The Central Building or Rotunda, temperature 80 de- 

 grees, contains a fine variety of the majestic palms, 

 called Martins, the princes of vegetation, and of which 

 there are three hundred kinds, the most prominent being 

 here represented. The most interesting in the collection 

 is the palm tree of Scripture, familiarly known as the 

 date palm. Jericho, the City of Palms, was so called from 

 the numbers of this tree growing in its vicinity. It was 

 recommended by the Jews in the Feast of the Taber- 

 nacles. In Arabia, Egypt and Persia it supplies almost 

 every want of the inhabitants. 



"The fruit is used for food, the leaves for shelter, the 

 wood for fuel, and the sap for spiritous liquor. It matures 

 in ten years, and then fruits for centuries, bearing from 

 one to three hundred cwt. at a time. Among the Arabs 

 the pollen dust is preserved from year to year, and at the 

 season of impregnation of the pistils or female flowers, 

 a feast called "Marriage of the Palms" is held. It is a 

 singular historical fact that the date palm of Egypt bore 

 no fruit in the year 1800, owing to the presence of the 

 French army in the country, which prevented the annual 

 marriage feast. 



"Among the other plants in this portion of the conserv- 



A BORXEAX ORCHID OF GREAT BEAUTY 



I'Ir. 7. This remarkable East Indian species does wonderfully 

 well as a conservatory plant, and in the greenhouses of tTie 

 Garden few flowers can equal it for beauty. 



FEW FLOWERS ATTRACT MORE ATTENTION THAN 

 DO THE ORCHIDS 



Fig. 8. One of the several smaller conservatories in the Garden 

 is given over almost entirely to the cultivation of these showy 

 flowers, with their white and pink-edged petals. 



atory are the fan, royal, rattan sago of japan and China. 

 l)anama hat, oil, wine, coco de Chili, sugar and cradie 

 l)alms ; the West Indian bamboo ; the tree fern from New 

 Zealand ; Astra pea from Madagascar ; screw pine of Aus- 

 tralia, with its corkscrew leaves and root in mid-air; the 

 cinnamon of Ceylon ; maiden's hair fern ; mango, a de- 

 licious fruit of the West Indies ; banana, that most pro- 

 lific of all plants ; the great stag horn and silk horn 

 ferns from Australia (very fine specimens) ; the dumb 

 cane of South America, commonly known as the mother- 

 in-law plant {Diffenbarhia picta^ (see Fig. 9.) The sao 

 of the root of the latter will take away the power of 

 speech. Humboldt, during his explorations in South 

 America, was eight days speechless from tasting it. 

 The outer circle of the Rotunda is devoted to the smaller 

 tropical plants. 



"The East range or Wing, temperature 50 degrees, is 

 devoted more particularly to the plants of the South Sea 

 Islands, Brazil, Cape of Good Hope, Australia and New 

 Zealand. The principal specimens are the tree fern of 

 New Zealand ; the aloe and the CafTre bread tree from 

 the Cape of Good Hope ; the India rubber ; the pas- 

 sion flower ; the caladium of Brazil ; Norfolk Island pine 

 of Australia one of the most beautiful and largest 

 growing trees in the world; the queen plant or bird of 



