THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



House No. 6 is also a desert house occupied in part by 

 the cactus family, which, with the exception of a few 

 species, is American. The giant tree-cactus (Carnegiea 

 gigantea) and some of the Opuntias and night-blooming 

 Cereuses will attract attention. This house contains also 

 the century-plants, which are limited to the New World. 

 One of these, the sisal plant, produces the sisal hemp of 

 commerce. The common century-plant and related species 

 furnish the Mexican drink pulque. It is popularly be- 

 lieved that the century-plant does not bloom until it is one 

 hundred years old and that it then dies. It is true that it 

 dies soon after blooming, but it blooms in much less than 

 a century. Other plants in this section are desert repre- 

 sentatives of the lily family, of the pineapple family and 

 of the spurge family. 



House No. 7 contains a large and varied collection of 

 cacti, including climbing, columnar, globose and epiphytic 

 types. 



House No. 8. Here will be found a very large and 

 representative collection of prickly pears (Opuntia) and 

 their relatives, including the cochineal cactus (Nopalea), 

 upon which the cochineal insect breeds. 



House No. 9. This is the aquatic house. Of especial 

 interest is the Egyptian paper-plant or papyrus, the pith of 

 which the ancients used in place of writing paper. On the 

 margin of the pool are growing some plants of the sugar- 



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