Carlos and I have spent this past week out at MSC (the Museum Support Center) to get some lab work done (more on that in another post). One day I remembered to bring my camera so I could take some pictures of everything. To take a break from the lab and see some sunshine, Carlos and I wandered over to visit one of the research greenhouses (this one houses living plant specimens that have been collected from all over the world!).
Once inside, we were sprinkled with mist and hit by a wall of humidity -- it smelled and felt like the tropics! We looked around on our own for a little bit, but then bumped into one of the greenhouse keepers and she showed us a few of the more spectacular plants in flower.
One of the most interesting blooms that we saw was Edithcolea grandis (from Tanzania) -- it looks like rotting meat and smells like cow manure. We also saw some Hedychium (gingers that smell really nice and sweet), Curcuma, and Amorphophallus species. Everything looked really lush and green that day and it was a really nice way to spend some time before eating lunch and getting back to the lab!
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