DAHLIA

this is a decorative Dahlia

I posted some photos of Dahlia flowers in the recent Indian Safari post. These were the ones that were grown for the display.

a waterlily Dahlia

a cactus Dahlia

a pom pom Dahlia

a collerette Dahlia

COOLED CONSERVATORIES

Rat Tail Cactus

It was quite a while since I visited the conservatories.

The Flower Dome has interesting plants such as Rat Tail Cactus and Grevillea while the Cloud Forest has mostly interesting orchid species and a number of interesting gesneriads.

a Grevillea

an orchid

close-up of the orchid

Kohleria

close-up of the flowers

Masdevallia pinocchio

FLOWER DOME - SUCCULENTS AND CACTI

These are an entire range of succulents, including cacti, on the way to and at the Baobab Village. They are growing amazingly well, thanks to the controlled microclimate within the Flower Dome.

I do not know all the names of the plants and I will not attempt to explain everything but here are some of the interesting stuff that I saw:

• Kalanchoe tomentosa (Common Name: Panda Plant, Pussy Ears; Family: Crassulaceae)
• Echeveria (Family: Crassulaceae)
• quartz
• sparrows on Adenium obesum (Common Name: Desert Rose; Family: Apocynaceae)
• flowerfield
• eagle carving from tree trunk and roots
• Euphorbia punicea (Common Name: Jamaican Poinsettia; Family: Euphorbiaceae)
• Pelargonium (Family: Gerianaceae)

There are a few photos of a few species of cacti, after the quartz photo, which look like underwater sea anemones. The interesting thing is one can see from these photos how the cacti divide itself in multiples of 2 i.e. 4, 6 and 8.