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West Indies and by the curious Mexican Acanthorhiza 

 aculeata with spine-like roots on its trunk. Old World 

 species are shown in a very large tree of the Chinese fan- 

 palm, and by numerous other large species from the 

 Pacific islands. Another Old World palm is Calamus 

 asperrimus, of Java, curious in its climbing habit; the 

 specimen here is over one hundred and seventy feet long; 

 the long tail-like appendages to the leaves, which have back- 

 wardly turned spines, enable the palm to climb on sur- 

 rounding vegetation. Related to the palms and shown by 

 numerous specimens in this house, we find a number of 

 species of the Panama hat-plant family, the most conspicu- 

 ous being the Panama hat plant (Carludovica palmata), from 

 the young leaves of which the costly Panama hats are made. 

 Opposite the entrance to the court is a plant which be- 

 longs to the grass family, the Chinese bamboo (Bambos 

 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 measure- 

 ments 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 places where it 

 grows its stems are put to a great variety of uses in con- 

 struction, for water pipes, and for various utensils. 



Houses No. 2 and No. 3 contain a collection of exogenous 

 tropical plants. These are arranged in botanical sequence, 

 the families appearing to the right or left of the walk, or 

 both, as cultural conditions require, the sequence beginning 

 at the east end on the north side, proceeding to the west 

 end of house 3 and returning on the south side of the two 

 houses, and terminating at the east end of house 2. On 

 the right, as one enters from the north door from house 1, 

 is a collection of the pepper family, Piperaceae. These 

 are largely of the genus Peperomia; many of these 

 plants have been collected by Garden expeditions to the 

 West Indies. Plants of the genus Piper are usually large, 

 and the larger ones will be found in the center nearby. 



