Guides Corner

THE POTTED PLANTS GALLERY
Walking back through the east wing and through the dome area, visitors enter the west wing of the Conservatory and Potted Plants. Offering a stunning seasonally themed display of flowering favorites such as hibiscus and hybrid orchids. This gallery also features an incredible assortment of decorative urns and containers from all over the world. Visitors can sit on a historic bench under the arbor and admire the profusion of color.

ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN/ARTWORK

• Potted Plants pays homage to the Conservatory's Victorian roots, recreating an historical development termed by garden historians "Victorian Pot Culture." In Victorian glasshouses visitors encountered a diversity of potted plants displayed on benches, arranged to allow people to stop and admire one interesting flower or plant after another.
• A gorgeous ipé wood arbor with hints of Asian design influence stands in the center of this gallery. This handcrafted structure was created by Gene DeSmidt of DeSmidt Design Build. The arbor is built from Tabebuia avellandae (syn. T. ipé), an exotic South American ironwood. This certified lumber was harvested from sustainable, managed forests. Ipé is extremely decay, pest and fire resistant. The wood is so heavy a forklift was necessary to assemble the finished components of the arbor.
• Potted Plants displays an incredible array of containers from all over the world, including:
  
Brazilian Water Vessels
A collection of ceramic cylinders and a large green-gray urn carved from a single stone come to the Conservatory from South America where modernization has begun to eliminate the need for these traditional water cooling and storing containers.
Chinese Granite Vessels
These substantial, distinctive containers served generations of Chinese farmers as livestock feed and water bins. The surface qualities are a result of the original hand carving, centuries of use and weathering, and the nature of the stone's venation. Cracks on these containers were filled with molten metal and stapled closed.
Gangalaya Pots
The Conservatory has a varied collection of antique, lustrous, brass pots from Karnataka India. The detailing includes parrot beak-shaped handles, patterned indentation, with elaborate inscriptions. These vessels were used to carry holy water from the Ganges River to temples and the faithful unable to reach the river's banks.
Guatemalan Glazed Pottery
The Conservatory's contemporary Guatemalan glazed terra cotta containers are hand made and express traditional designs by village artisans. The patterning can include raised appliqués, stencils and glaze suffusions.
Javanese Palm Pots
Carved and hollowed by hand from a black coconut tree, each majestic, columnar container shows the palm's sinewy grain and has a gleaming, dark finish. They are contemporary pieces made on the island of Java.
Mossi Bobo Tribe Jars
From Burkina Faso, Africa these rotund jars are mid-century ceramic. The vessels have a beautifully balanced form and elaborate incised patterning. These hand-incised ceramic pots commonly are used to store grain or milk.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition Urn
This Travertine-plaster urn was created for display in the 1915 expo hosted by San Francisco. It is an example of the exuberant, American Beaux Art style. The urn carefully restored for the 2003 reopening.

PLANTS

Maracaibo lignum vitae, Bulnesia arborea, Zygophyllaceae

• Central and South America
• The Zygophyllaceae contains our native creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) which is prominent in the Mojave desert.
• A Bulnesia tree, with its fine, pinnate leaves, is on right as you enter.
• The tree is considered sacred by the natives of Paraguay.
• Bulnesia oil is sweetly smoky, earthy with a touch of rose to the aroma. The wood's oil is an anti-inflammatory and is used to treat gout, rheumatism and arthritis pains, as well as simple fluid retention.
• It is a building and crafting material, the wood is very dense and hard due to its resins and oils, it polishes very well. Because of the high ratio of oils and resins, this wood is not easy to work with either machine or hand tool. It is used as steps and collars for water turbines, mallet heads, pulley wheels and locally for railway crossties.

• Brazil
• This family also contains Thunbergia and Plumeria.
• On the granite plinth sits an Allamanda cathartica, with yellow flowers, climbing onto the arbor.
• After the flowers die, prickly seedpods appear containing winged seeds that fly about when the pod dries and breaks open.
• All parts of the plant are considered poisonous. However, in Colombia, it is a traditional medicine used to treat snakebites. The plant extract neutralizes the haemorrhagic effect of the venom.

• India
• One of the vines on the arbor is Thunbergia mysorensis, with stunning rich maroon and yellow flowers shaped like a slipper orchid.
• The pendulous red and yellow flowers produce a wealth of nectar to attract hummingbird pollinators.
• The long flower clusters can reach three feet.

• Central America
• Another vine on the arbor is the two-toned purple flowered Petrea volubilis.
• It is adapted to heavy drought and blooms in the late summer with long lasting tresses of 15-30 purple flowers on each raceme.
• The calyx of the flower is also showy and the five narrow, petal-like lobes remain long after the darker purple flowers drop.

• Mexico
• The Dioscoreaceae gives us yams (Convolvulaceae, the morning glory family, gives us sweet potatoes).
• This species is dioecious; we have a male plant. It is probably about 75 years old.
• At the foot of the arbor's entrance is the distinctive Dioscorea macrostachya, which looks like a sprouting tortoise shell.
• This drought-adapted woody storage structure sprouts a shoot that grows into a 15' vine and then dies back until next year.
• In 1940 it was discovered how to convert diosgenin from Mexican wild yam into progesterone, leading to the oral contraceptive. At one point steroids and other substances derived from diosgenin constituted 15% of the world pharmaceutical market.
• The pharmaceutically untreated Dioscorea is used for abdominal colic, spasmodic hiccough, painful vomiting, gastritis, irritable bowel symptoms, dysmenorrhea, chronic hepatic congestion, urinary tract spasms and rheumatism. It is also used as a diaphoretic and expectorant. Women also use it for menstrual and uterine cramps, morning sickness and to prevent miscarriage.

• Cuba
• This plant is endangered in its native habitat. This very slow growing tree can reach 30 feet in height.
• The specific name "crinita" is Latin for "hairy".

• Madagascar and Southern Africa
• The Apocynaceae also contains Allamanda, Vinca, Oleande, and Plumeria.
• The tall spiny Pachypodium spp. Madagascar palms make a statement even when they're not leafed out.
• Pachypodium is a group of about 20 species of tree and shrub succulents.
• The flowers form only on mature plants, that might be 10 years old or more.
• "Pachypodium" means "thick foot" in Greek, referring to the thickened stem.
• This is a very drought tolerant plant with most of its mass dedicated to storage of water and sugars.

• Southern China
• The finger palm has a dramatic, architectural presence among the boisterous color of Potted Plants.
• Leaves can reach up to 24" across, but this is usually only in low light conditions. Typically there are about a dozen leaflets to each fan, but some actually have as much as triple this amount.
• This was a very popular Victorian plant.

• Madagascar
• Trees reach 10-15 meters in height. They grow in relatively large forests, known as spiney forests, that are subject to frequent bush fires.
• Drought tolerant, periodically deciduous.
• You can see the evidence of convergent evolution with its neighbor, Pachypodium lamerei. These two unrelated plants have adapted similar shapes and survival strategies in response to similar environmental conditions.

• Tropical America and Africa
• These trees can grow up to 70 m and can reach a diameter of 3 m. It is an emergent tree in the rainforest. As emergents, they can have wind distributed seeds because these trees rise above most of the canopy. The white cottony substance produced by the fruits to enable the seeds to travel by wind is used in life preservers and mattress stuffing.
• This tree is drought deciduous, shedding its leaves during the tropical dry season.
• With an unpleasant odor, the flowers of this tree are pollinated by bats.
• Considered habitat for spirits by indigenous peoples.

• Alocasia spp. (African Masks)
• Anthuriums
• Begonia spp.
• Coleus spp.
• Dieffenbachia sp. (Dumb cane)
• Dizygotheca elegantissima (false aralia)
• Dracaena spp.
• Ferns
• Ficus elastica (Rubber tree plant)
• Fittonia spp.
• Hibiscus cultivars
• Maranta spp.
• Peperomia spp. (Radiator plant)
• Philodendrons
• Sansevieria spp. (Mother-in-law's tongue or snake plant)
• Schefflera spp. (Umbrella tree)
• Spathiphyllum spp. (Spathe flower)