(6) 



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 most familiar member of this group, has been 

 cultivated in tropical regions for an indefinite period for fruit, 

 and is not certainly known in the wild state ; the pineapple 

 fruit is the ripened bunch of flowers which forms at the top 

 of the stem ; the plant is propagated by cutting off the tuft of 

 leaves, which is found on the top of the fruit, and by suckers 

 which sprout from the side of the plant near the ground ; it is 

 an exception to the tree-loving habit of most of the family, 

 in growing on the ground, and is cultivated in the Bahamas 

 and on the Florida Keys often in very rocky soil. One of 

 the very spiny-leaved species, Bromelia Pingnin, is widely 

 utilized as a hedge plant in the West Indies. Hanging from 

 the rafters on both sides of this house will be found baskets 

 containing the East Indian pitcher-plants, Nepenthes ; these 

 are mostly vines, growing naturally on trees, their leaves 

 curiously modified at the ends into hollow structures pro- 

 vided with lids and technically known as pitchers, which are 

 often wrongly regarded as the flowers ; these pitchers con- 

 tain water and secrete from their sides a glutinous liquid 

 which digests insects that fall or crawl into the pitchers ; 

 this form of nutriment is apparently not necessary at all, 

 however, to the growth of the plants ; the flowers are small 

 but borne in large clusters arising from the stems and may 

 often be seen ir\ this collection. 



House No. ^contains specimens illustrating several fami- 

 lies of monocotyledonous plants of tropical regions. The 

 amaryllis family is represented by a number of species of 

 the spider lily (Hymenocallis), bearing large white flowers, 

 the commonest being Hymenocallis caribaca from the sandy 

 coasts of southern Florida and the West Indies ; large plants 

 of the genus Crinum, some of which have white flowers and 

 some red or purple, may be seen on the middle bench, and 



