(193 ) 
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 Strelitzia. Another genus of the banana 
family, Bihat, 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. ‘The plants in this house, as well as those 
in house No. 14, are mostly natives of warm-temperate re- 
gions, and are arranged in botanical sequence, with a view 
to furnishing a collection for the comparative study of plant 
families and genera; to make this as complete as possible, 
as many representatives of families and genera are brought 
together as space and cultural conditions permit. Cultural 
requirements necessitate placing the ferns and their allies 
somewhat out of their sequence position, at the south end 
of the west side bench. The east side bench is devoted to 
the pine family, the yew family, and to the endogenous 
plants, the last named terminating with the orchids, next 
the banana house. The sequence of exogenous plants 
begins on the west side bench, as one enters from house 
No. 13, crosses to the central bench at the ferns, and con- 
tinues around that, ending in this house with the loasa 
family, near the fern house. The sequence is then con- 
