(II) 



sugar is manufactured. Among the plants in the pool are 

 many with attractive flowers ; conspicuous among these being 

 water-lilies {Cast alia) , of which there are several different 

 kinds; the water hyacinth; the parrot's-feather, with its deli- 

 cate feathery masses of green; the water poppy; the water 

 snowflake; the water lettuce, a member of the aroid family; 

 the floating fern; and some odd little plants related to the 

 ferns, members of the genus Salvinia. 



House No. 10 contains specimens of the aroids, repre- 

 sented by a large number of different species. The plants of 

 this family {Araceae) are mostly of tropical distribution, but 

 they are represented in our northern flora by the skunk cab- 

 bage, the jack-in-the-pulpit, and the sweet flag; the most fa- 

 miliar one in cultivation is the calla lily {Zantedeschia aethio- 

 pica) , not botanically a lily. The plants all have spikes of 

 very small flowers closely massed together, and usually sub- 

 tended by a broad leaf-like structure which is known as the 

 spathe ; this is usually highly colored, pure white, yellow, red 

 or scarlet, and is commonly thought of as the flower, though 

 not botanically so; species of Anthurium, known as tail- 

 flowers, are abundant in the West Indies and tropical Amer- 

 ica, as is the genus Philodendron, signifying tree-loving, on 

 account of many species being vines climbing high on the 

 trees in tropical forests; numerous species have underground 

 stems and branches which contain much starch and are culti- 

 vated in the tropics for food, under the name of yautias and 

 taras. Plants of the same family, too large for exhibition 

 in this house, may be found in house No. 4. This house is 

 occupied also by plants of the pineapple family. These are 

 mostly plants which live on the trunks and branches of trees 

 in tropical forests, and are therefore called epiphytes, signi- 

 fying plants growing upon other plants; many of them are 

 exceedingly beautiful in foliage and in flower; the so-called 

 Florida moss, or Spanish moss, clothes the trees of the live- 

 oaks in the southern Atlantic States, and is not a moss at all, 

 but a plant bearing small flowers which show its relationship 

 to others of this family. The pineapple itself, doubtless the 



