Greenhouse

Function

The Greenhouse facility is a 2400 square foot building of four climate-controlled rooms upgraded and maintained by Facilities Services. Services provided are threefold: Maintain growing space for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate research; Grow and maintain specimens and plant material for classroom instruction; Develop and maintain a diverse living collection for teaching purposes.

The living collection consists of over 100 different plant species originating from a variety of habitats including temperate, aquatic, desert and tropical environments, including the familiar and foreign, benign and bizarre, such as the tiny yet highly invasive mosquito-fern Azolla caroliniana which partners with blue-green algae to harvest nitrogen from the air, several species of the cryptically patterned Living-stones (Lithops sp.), the weird and wicked-spined Madagascar palm (Pachypodium lamerei), and the malodorous yet majestic carrion flower (Stapelia hirsuta). Although these plants are used for both teaching and research purposes, the facility is also a favorite spot for visitors who are intrigued by the beauty and aesthetics that this immense variety of plants offers.

Contact Us