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many species being vines climbing high on the trees in tropi- 
cal forests; numerous species have underground stems and 
branches which contain much starch and are cultivated 
in the tropics for food, under the name of yautias and taros. 
Plants of the same family, too large for exhibition in this 
house, may be found in house No. 4. Others will be 
found at range 2, houses 16, 18, and 20. 
House No. 11. Here are brought together many kinds of 
tropical plants belonging to the banana, ginger and canna 
families. The collection of bananas and their relatives 
occupies the greater part of the space and one or more of 
the specimens is usually in fruit; the collection contains 
both the edible, commercial bananas and the plantains, 
and also several species whose fruit is not edible, but in 
which the interest lies in their decorative leaves and flowers- 
The stems and leaves of all these plants contain some fiber, 
which is produced in enormous quantities in the Philippine 
Islands from Musa textilis, and is the well-known Manila 
hemp. The supply of fruit for the United States comes 
mostly from Central America and the West Indies, and 
some from northern South America. Bananas will grow 
in southern Florida, but the rocky soil of that region is not 
well adapted to their cultivation. The traveler’s tree, 
from Madagascar, is shown in several fine specimens, and 
gets its English name from the fact that the axis of each 
long leaf-stalk contains a great deal of water which can be 
tapped and drunk. The bird-of-paradise plants, which 
take their name from their gaudy flowers, will be found in 
this group; they are natives of southern Africa and belong 
to the genus Sérelitzia. Another genus of the banana 
family, Bihai, is also represented by several species, called 
wild plantains, natives mainly of tropical America. 
Here also may be found several species of the genus Costus 
and of other genera of the ginger family, including the 
ginger plant (Zingiber Zingiber). 
House No. 12 contains specimens illustrating several fami- 
lies of monocotyledonous plants of tropical regions. The 
