San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers – Part II

Continuation of my post on the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.

Most of the orchids live in this room:

The tropical climate in this room creates a balmy and misty atmosphere which insisted on fogging up my camera lens time and time again. Please forgive my fuzzy photos.

The orchid cabinets are a dream, but the orchids are the real stars:

Unless you are a bromeliad fan:

This one has translucent leaves:

The Nepenthes pitcher plants were creepy, yet beautiful. A sign nearby says that these plants live in environments where the competition for food is fierce, so their leaves evolved into honey-glanded pitchers designed to capture and digest gnats, flies, or moths. But the Conservatory’s website cites that they also may capture a bird, frog or small rodent. Eek! Little Shop of Horrors!

According to the website Carl Linnaeus, he named them Nepenthes recalling Homer's Odyssey and the drug ‘Nepenthe’ that Helen of Troy poured into the soldier's wine to alleviate their sorrow and grief. Linnaeus felt the Nepenthes had a similar affect on botanists.”

Any botanists out there affected the same way?

That’s all for now, next time I will show you the artwork in this room and more plants.