December 3, 2016 – April 23, 2017
Will be on view daily and included with admission.
White Bat Flower
Kathryn's Garden
Tacca integrifolia
A fall favorite, white bat flower is currently blooming in Kathryn's Garden, directly across from the Ticketing windows. White bat flower features the largest flowers of all Taccas and is native to monsoonal rain forests of southeast Asia. This particular photo shows the flower before it has fully opened; dark purple-maroon flowers are clustered beneath those showy white bracts. The whisker-like bracts can grow to be about a foot in length.
Silk Floss Tree
Kapnick Brazilian Garden
Ceiba speciosa
Silk Floss are always a favorite in the Garden. Note its spiked trunk and later in the season, its pods which burst with cotton-like material, which were used as stuffing for car seats and flotation devices decades ago!
Lotus
Lea Asian Garden
Nelumbo nucifera
You can find lotus blooming now in the Lea Asian Garden. In addition to beautiful flowers, lotus also has really interesting leaves. If you look closely, you'll notice that water forms beads on the leaf's surface. Nanostructures on lotus leaves repel water: water dropped onto the leaf does not wet the surface and simply rolls off. As water moves across superhydrophobic surfaces like these leaves, it picks up and carries away dirt, dust, and debris, also. Engineers look to the "lotus effect" to design self-cleaning, superhydrophobic products, like textiles that remain dry when submerged in water and building materials that are better protected from the elements.
Semaphore pricklypear
Kapnick Caribbean Garden
Consolea corallicola
Semaphore pricklypear is a federally-listed endangered species that is endemic to south Florida. You'll probably want to be very careful around this cactus, but do cautiously take a closer look: the bases of its spines are hot pink! You can find it blooming now at the south end of the Kapnick Caribbean Garden.
Dwarf Blue Orchid Tree
Kapnick Caribbean Garden
Bauhinia grandidieri
You can find dwarf blue orchid tree blooming next to the Chattel House in the Kapnick Caribbean Garden right now. Dwarf blue orchid tree has tiny leaves and is a great choice for bonsai. Despite the name, this tree and other trees in its genus, like Hong Kong orchid (Bauhinia x blakeana), are in no way related to orchids and actually belong to the legume family, Fabaceae.
