PARK AND CEACTCRY 
' 3 ' 
Tropical House, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 
Horticultural Hall, Fairmount Park, Philadel- 
phia, is a great attraction to visitors, especially in 
the winter season, the fame of its large sized trop- 
ical plants being almost world-wide. Our illustra- 
tion shows but a portion of the hall, and some of 
the finest plants are, consequently, not represented. 
There is to be seen a gigantic specimen of bamboo, 
Bambusa striata. It consists of a clump of about 12 
stalks, the stoutest not over 3 inches in diameter, 
yet these canes have reached the roof, some 60 feet 
high. Some sprays of this plant are represented in 
the illustration on the left hand side of the roof It 
is a Chinese plant and should be almost hardy here. 
There are near it some fine specimens of a palm 
from Southern China, Livistona Chinensis, better 
known as Latania Borbonica. One is 20 feet high, 
as many wide, with a trunk 2 ft in diameter. Im- 
mense racemes of berries hang on them. These 
PALM HOUSE, FAIRMOUNT PARK. 
racemes are three feet in length, and contain per- 
haps a thousand seeds. A small plant of it is seen 
on the right hand side of the picture, with a speci- 
men of the India rubber plant immediately in its 
front. A curious coniferous plant, Dammara Aus- 
tralis, the-'^'^^auri Pine” of Australia, though 
reaching to the top of the building, has a spread of 
about 6 ft. There are some very large plants of 
Araucarias, Cunninghamia, Excelsa and Bidwilli. 
These are 50 feet high. The former is hardy in the 
south of England. It is from Australia. An old 
acquaintance, Seaforthia elegans, is represented by 
several specimens, some of them 25 to 30 feet high, 
with trunks 15 inches in diameter. These trees bear 
fruit freely, and lots of seedlings are to be seen 
springing up about the parent plants. This is 
known as the Illawarra palm of Queensland. 
Ravenala Madagascariensis is the traveller’s tree. 
It is of banana-like appearance. The rain gathers 
in its cup-like leaves affording relief to the weary 
traveler. A specimen here is 25 feet high, and 
many of the leaves with stalks, are 20 feet in length. 
There is a saga palm, Cycas revoluta 6 feet high, 
and of another species, circinalis, there is one 12 
feet. 
In addition to these there are more or less fine 
specimens of such plants as Monstera deliciosa, As- 
trapaea, Wallichii, Alsophila Australis, Persea gra- 
tissima, the alligator pear of the West Indies. 
Camphora officinales. Camphor plant. Cocas nuci- 
fera, Cocoanut palm,Coffea Arabica producing ripe 
seed. Chamaedoria graminifolia, Eugenia jambos, 
Phceni.x dactilifera and many other tropical and 
useful plants. 
The main hall in which these plants are is solely 
for this class of plants; and the scene as one enters 
the door is thoroughly a tropical one. Something 
like this is wanted in all parks. The public ask for 
something of this kind for winter. The outside 
trees and flowers suffice in summer. What a treat 
it is to the people of a city to have a large hall like 
this one for visiting in w’inter is shown by the great 
numbers who visit the one at Fairmount. 
Joseph Meehan. 
INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON FOLIAGE. — Pro- 
fesser Strasburger is one of those eminent Euro- 
pean botanists to whom students in plant life have 
looked up to as among their greatest teachers, and 
it is therefore with some surprise that Americans 
read a recent paper of his in connection with the 
influence of climate on the structure of leaves. He 
takes, for an illustration, the European Beech. 
He says that Avhen the beech produces its leaves in 
the deep shade of the forest, they are larger and 
flner than the leaves of the same tree exposed to 
full snulight, and from this he deduces a general prin- 
ciple that abundance of sunlight to a dry atmos- 
phere is the reason why leaves are thick and small. 
Yet it has been for over a quarter of a century 
placed on record, and admitted as an undeniable 
fact, that in the case of allied species of European 
and American trees, the leaves of the American are 
larger and thinner than the leaves of the Euro- 
pean. The American Linden has larger and thin- 
ner leaves than the European Linden. So has the 
American Sweet Chestnut, American Oak, Amer- 
ican Ash, American Buttonwood or Sycamore, and 
in fact, all American trees that have close Euro- 
pean allies. And yet no one will contend for a 
moment that the English climate is dryer, or that 
there is more light or more long continued sunlight 
in England than America. It is unfortunate when 
great authorities like Strasburger attempt to 
found great scientific truths on such slender mater- 
ials. — Meehans' Monthly for September. 
