(9) 



this fruit is not edible. Chocolate trees {Theobroma Cacao) 

 native of tropical America, may be found near the western 

 door of this house ; the small white flowers are produced on 

 the trunk and on branches, and a few of them develop into 

 the large woody pods containing the seeds or chocolate 

 beans, which are dried and ground up into chocolate and 

 cocoa ; specimens illustrating the chocolate industry will be 

 found in the economic museum. The papaya, or papaw, 

 also of tropical America, is illustrated by a tall tree in the 

 middle of this house ; its fruit, esteemed as an aid to di- 

 gestion, is borne just under the crown of leaves. 



Several interesting tall vines climb on the pillars of this 

 house, among them the night-blooming jessamine (Cestrum 

 Parqut) of tropical America, which opens its flowers after 

 dark and exhales a delicious perfume, the flowers remaining 

 open during part of the morning ; Henderson's Alamanda of 

 Brazil, with its showy large yellow flowers, climbs to the 

 roof. 



House JVb. 5. The plants in this house are from desert 

 regions. Especial attention is called to their fleshy stems or 

 leaves which serve as storage organs for a water supply to 

 carry them over periods of drought. On the right hand 

 bench, as one enters from No. 4, are found mainly plants 

 from southern Africa : the carrion flowers {Stafelid), rela- 

 tives of our common milkweed of the roadsides ; Aloe, Gas- 

 terta, Haworthia, and other South African representatives 

 of the lily family. 



The central bench is entirely devoted to the cactus family, 

 which, with few exceptions, is American. Nearly all these 

 plants are devoid of leaves, these organs, when present, being 

 small and inconspicuous ; in the genus Opuntia they are 

 usually present on the young growths as awl-shaped bodies, 

 while in some few species they are much larger and remain 

 for some time ; in the genus Pereskia, specimens of which 

 will be found in house No. 7, the leaves are large and well 

 developed. The stems of the cacti are fleshy and assume a 

 great number of forms ; in Opuntta the stem is composed 



