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Greenhouses

Aquatic plants (house 4)

This greenhouse is accessed from the southeast of the palm house. Its temperature and humidity are similar to the Victoria house with its summer climate. To the right, underwater aquatic plants are on display, whereas to the left you will encounter aquatic and bog plants rising above the water line.

It is here that you will find the live tropical butterflies exhibition in the winter. Butterflies love sunshine and are then particularly active.

Photo 2009-06-14: Rafael Matysiuk — Large bog plants in the middle; various beds with bog plants to the right; 15 aquariums to the left

Both the middle basins are reserved for large bog plants. The last basin to the south - which is also home to numerous fish – is for mangroves, small trees that grow in the saline coastal habitats in the tropics.

Photo 2009-05-25: Rafael Matysiuk — Anna's (*Osphronemus goramy*) size is impressive.

In addition to bog and aquatic plants, there are a number of plants that have adopted a free-floating habit. These are able to thrive in a habitat which firmly rooted plants are unable to populate. These plants have developed very different ways to stay afloat. Some of them have formed a spongy, air-filled tissue for buoyancy. The stalks of the water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes serves as float, which is equally true for the sometimes free-floating fern Ceratopteris. In case of Neptunia oleracea, it is the shoot that was adapted for this purpose. The Ludwigia helminthorrhiza uses its air-filled roots for buoyancy. The leaf surface of some other free-floating plants is tightly covered with velvety hairs making the leaves highly hydrophobic. The genera Azolla and Salvinia as well as the water cabbage Pistia stratiotes are typical examples.

Greenhouses

Aquatic plants (house 4)

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Greenhouses