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the plant as it is now and offers a striking contrast to its former 
appearance. The first flowers expanded on the afternoon of July 
30, about three months from the time the flowering stem first 
emerged from the leaves. The plant attained its maximum 
height, seventeen feet, two and a half inches, on July 12, since 
which time its growth in that direction has not been appreciable. 
Late in June it began to make the lateral branches of the inflor- 
escence, and its growth during July has been mainly in that 
direction, its height increasing but a little over two feet during 
that time; in June its increase in that direction was nearly five 
et. 
The two beds already referred to contain only American desert 
plants. In the long narrow bed to the east of the central bed 
will be found a collection of desert plants from southern Africa, 
in which the large genus Aloe plays an important part. These 
plants resemble in habit the century plants already referred to, 
but belong to the lily family instead of to the amaryllis family. 
Other interesting plants, also members of the lily family, are 
species of Gasteria, Apicra, Haworthia and others. 
Near this, and placed obliquely to it, is a bed made up of one 
family, all the plants in it being members of the orpine family, 
thus showing the distribution of a single family in desert regions 
in all parts of the world. While in a similar bed opposite, on 
the other side of the court, is a bed containing desert plants from 
the Old World only. Especially attractive here are the semper- 
vivums, with their leaves frequently arranged in dense rosettes. 
The spurges here, with their tall angular stems, will at once 
suggest the large columnar plants of the genus Cereus, already 
referred to. The resemblance in form is quite striking, although 
the two belong not only to entirely different parts of the world, 
but also to widely separated plant families. These tall thick- 
stemmed spurges are mainly from Africa, while the genus Cereus, 
as well as all other cacti, with a very few exceptions, are strictly 
natives of the New World. 
In the court, placed in various parts as decorative features, 
are a number of miscellaneous plants. Among these are several 
acacias from Australia, a fig-tree, hydrangeas, palms, a species of 
