The greenhouse at Virginia Wesleyan College was constructed in April 1975 with funds provided by the Women of Wesleyan. It is maintained by students. The present student assistant is Sarah Sasen. Sarah is a senior majoring in environmental studies. The activities of this facility are supervised by Dr. Paul M. Resslar, Professor of Biology. The greenhouse contains a collection of plants used primarily to teach classes in botany and horticulture. The collection is diverse with both non-flowering and flowering vascular plants. Two groups of plants, the cycads and the aroids, do, however, account for the majority of specimens.
The greenhouse contains a large collection of cycads. Approximately 90 species representing ten genera of cycads are found in the collection. Many of the species are wild collected and have documentation.
Along with the cycads, a collection of aroids (plants of the Araceae) is maintained in the greenhouse. Three genera account for the majority of plants of this collection. These genera are
Other genera (e.g., Philodendron, Rhaphidophora, Xanthosoma, Alocasia) are present in the collection, but each genus is represented by only a few species. Again, many of these plants are wild collected, documented specimens. If this group of plants is of some interest, take a look at the site maintained by the International Aroid Society
Small collections of orchids, bromeliads, stapeliads, and cacti can also be found in the greenhouse. Several species of epiphytic orchids native to Florida are being grown, but the majority of the orchids are species of Phalaenopsis and other vandaceous orchids. Both native and exotic species of bromeliads are represented in the collection; most of the specimens, however, are species of Tillandsia. The collection of cacti includes several genera demonstrating the different growth habits found in the family.
 | This web page was compiled by Dr. Paul M. Resslar. It was last revised on 18 May 2006. Please send me comments about this page or questions about the greenhouse. |