Content
Greenhouses
Large cactus house (hall A)
The tour of the greenhouses starts in this airy Hall dedicated to the drought tolerant plants of the New World. Gneiss and sand form the typical desert or semi-desert landscape of the Americas. Particularly remarkable are the globular and the columnar cacti as well as the mighty Agaves. We have limited the species selection to just one continent in this hall. Only at the edges did we make an exception allowing plants like the magnificent Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) which is indigenous to South Africa.

Plants inhabiting environments such as deserts, semi-deserts, craggy rock faces and dry grasslands with very little precipitation are known as xerophytes. They have developed different techniques to survive long dry spells. Some cover their leaves with a tough and leathery skin to minimise water loss. Others store water from short rainy seasons in their fleshy plant tissue and, therefore, are known as succulents.

Water is also stored in roots, stems or leaves. Succulent geophytes, which have underground storage organs, are rare whereas succulents storing water in their stems and leaves are more common. There are succulents storing precious moisture only in their thick bulbous stems or bases, whereas others use their entire shoots as well as the main and side branches as their water reservoir.


Audio points
- Introduction: Large cactus house
- Agave victoria-reginae
- Echinopsis terscheckii: A typical cactus
- Ferocactus piliferus
- Opuntia ficus-indica: Indian fig Opuntia
- Beaucarnea recurvata, B. stricta: Elephant’s foot
- Gray Tillandsia: Habitat
- Gray Tillandsia: Protective fur
Greenhouses
- Africa and Madagascar house (hall C)
- Aquatic plants (house 4 with aquariums)
- Bromeliads and aroids (house 8)
- Carnivorous plants (house 4a)
- Cycads (house 9)
- Desert plants (house 5)
- Grüner Saal (house 7 for exhibits)
- Large cactus house (hall A)
- Mexico house (house 6)
- Orchid house (house 1 with turtles)
- Palm house (hall B)
- Staghorn ferns (house 12)
- Temperate house (house 11)
- Tree ferns (house 10)
- Tropical economic plants (house 2)
- Victoria house (house 3)
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