Fact Sheet

EXHIBIT: HIGHLAND TROPICS

Entering the East Wing of the Conservatory, visitors will notice the temperature drop significantly in the HIGHLAND TROPICS. Here, in the misty cloud forests of tropical mountaintops, hundreds of delicate orchids grow off of the bark of gnarled trees. Dense mosses engulf rocks, and ferns grow in abundance. Crawling vines make their way through a forest of stunted trees.

The Conservatory of Flowers is one of only four institutions in the United States to feature a highland tropics display. This unique exhibit will be a highlight of a visit to the Conservatory. A primary feature of the HIGHLAND TROPICS will be the Conservatory's large and renowned collection of high-altitude orchids (pleurothallids), which will be publicly displayed for the first time when it reopens. These plants are native to mid-elevations in Central and South America, where the temperatures are very similar to San Francisco, including the prevalence of fog.

The Conservatory's Pleurothallid Orchid collection includes:

• Dracula spp. --Dracula orchid (orchid family), Ecuador to Colombia
  This little devil takes its name from the Greek word meaning "little dragon," referring to the ghoulish face-like image created by the lip and eye-like petals in the center. The unusual and pronounced lip is hinged and swings back and forth to woo insects. One species is even named Dracula vampira or 'Bella Lugosi.' The Conservatory has one of the largest public collections of these orchids.
  
  
• Trichoceros parviflorus
  (Orchid family), Ecuador to Bolivia. The flower of this orchid looks like a spiny fly seated on a small leaf. Quite a deception -- male flies try to mate with this 'virtual fly' on the flower and in the process pollinate it.

Other important plants featured in this gallery are:

• Bromeliads
  These plants are cousins of pineapple and Spanish moss. Many of them grow attached to trees or rocks, extracting water from humid or misty air and nutrients from debris that gathers around their roots and from the rain.
  
  
• Chusquea circinata -- Mountain Bamboo
  This clumping bamboo is common in the higher elevations of Central and South America.
  
  

ADDITIONAL EXHIBIT FEATURE:
HIGHLAND TROPICS (as well as AQUATIC PLANTS) will also include beautifully hand-crafted orchid cases designed and built by local architectural designer/artisan Gene DeSmidt of DeSmidt Design Build in Oakland, CA. These cases resemble antique Victorian armoires and will house some of the most valuable orchids in the collection.