Palm House

THE AMERICAS: Centre Transept

The Victorians concentrated on palms from the Americas, the world's richest rainforest habitat. Today, Caribbean palms and rare Mexican cycads have their own areas and visitors often recognise their own houseplants in some of the Chamaedorea palms.

Many vitally important economic specimens are planted here, including cocoa, rubber, bananas, papaya, soursop, cherimoya and mammee-apple. The Mexican yam (Dioscorea macrostachya) is important medicinally, as it was used to develop the contraceptive pill and Smilax utilis is interesting because the tonic drink sarsaparilla is made from its roots. Rare timbers include mahogany and the Caribbean lignum vitæ.

The parrot flowers (Heliconia) and the Venezuelan Brownea often display splashes of scarlet and in summer, the sweet scents of frangipani (Plumeria rubra) and white spider lilies (Hymenocallis) can fill the air.

Continue the tour

Back up to: Palm House Zone

Carry on to: Asia, Australasia, the Pacific