(5) 



washing, and passes into commerce under the name of sago 

 starch. Opposite the entrance to the court in this house, is a 

 group of bamboos, which belong to the grass family, the 

 most noteworthy of them being the Chinese bamboo {Bam- 

 busa vulgaris), whose stems reach into the upper part of the 

 dome ; this plant grows with great rapidity each year by new 

 shoots which come up from under ground, our measurements 

 showing that they reached 65 feet in height in 95 days, a rate 

 of about 8 inches a day. The plant has been introduced 

 into the West Indies, and in Asia its stems are put to a great 

 variety of uses in construction, for water pipes and for vari- 

 ous utensils. 



House No.) 2 contains specimens of the aroids, on the 

 middle bench, represented 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 cabbage, the jack-in-the-pulpit and the 

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

 lily (Rtchardia aetktoptca), 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 abundant 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 ; numer- 

 ous species have underground stems and branches which con- 

 tain much starch and are cultivated in the tropics for food, 

 under the name of yautias and taras. Plants of the same 

 family, too large for exhibition in this house No. 2, will be 

 found at the western side of house No. 4. The side benches 

 of this house are occupied 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, 

 signifying plants growing up on other plants ; many of them 



