U3o) 



House No. 4. Here are brought together many kinds of 

 large tropical plants belonging to families also represented 

 in the smaller houses, but too tall to be grown on the 

 benches. 



In this house may be found large specimens of the aroid 

 family, the most noteworthy one of these being a magnifi- 

 cent plant of Veitch's tail-flower {Anthurium Veitchii)', 

 from Colombia, which is believed to be the most elegant 

 plant of its kind in cultivation; climbing on trunks of trees 

 set as supports, will be found a number of vines of the 

 genera Philodendron and Monstera, one of these, Monstera 

 deliciosa, a Mexican plant, producing an edible fruit, 

 with the odor of pineapple. Another is Monstera late- 

 vaginata; the early leaves differ widely from the mature 

 ones. The main aroid collection will be found in house 10, 

 and other plants at range 2, houses 16, 18, and 20. 



A large tree of the common rubber plant, much grown in 

 parlors, may be found in the center of this house, reaching 

 to the roof; this is a native of tropical Asia and yields some 

 rubber, but not in as great quantity nor of as good quality 

 as the other rubber trees of South and Central America; it 

 is a species of fig (Ficus elasticd) ; other species of Ficus are 

 shown in this house, notably a fine tree of Roxburgh's 

 fig, which bears its inedible fruit in bunches near the base of 

 the tree, and a specimen of the Banyan tree (Ficus beng- 

 halensis). Chocolate trees (Theobroma Cacao), native of 

 tropical America, may be found here; 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 choco- 

 late industry will be found in the economic museum. The 

 papaya, or papaw, also of tropical America, is here also; 

 its fruit, esteemed as an aid to digestion, is borne just under 

 the crown of leaves. A specimen of the bread-fruit tree 

 (Artocarpus incisa) may also be seen here; originally from 

 the islands of the Pacific, it was introduced into the West 

 Indies in the latter part of the eighteenth century. 



