(i3) 



Fringing the pool on the right, as one enters from house 

 No. 10, are members of the sedge and grass families, while 

 on the left hand side the fringe is made up entirely of 

 grasses, largely of the graceful bamboos. Of special in- 

 terest among the sedges is the Egyptian paper-plant 

 (Cyperus Papyrus), from which many of the ancients ob- 

 tained their writing paper. Among the grasses by far the 

 most important is the sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) ; 

 from the lower portions of its stalks the juice is extracted 

 by pressure, and from this juice sugar is manufactured. 

 Among the plants in the pool are many with attractive 

 flowers; conspicuous among these being water-lilies (Cas- 

 talia), of which there are several different kinds; the water 

 hyacinth; the parrot's-feather, with its delicate feathery 

 masses of green; the water poppy; the water snowflake; 

 the water lettuce and golden-club, members of the aroid 

 family; the floating fern; and some odd little plants re- 

 lated 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, located on 

 the center and end benches and also under the benches. 

 The plants of this family (Araceae) are mostly of tropical 

 distribution, but they are represented in our northern 

 flora by the skunk cabbage, the jack-in-the-pulpit, and the 

 sweet flag; the most familiar one in cultivation is the calla 

 lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica), not botanically a lily. The 

 plants all have spikes of very small flowers closely massed 

 together, and usually subtended 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 abund- 

 ant in the West Indies and tropical America, 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 cultivated 



