Penn State Botany Greenhouse

Penn State Botany Greenhouse Welcome to the official page for Penn State’s Eberly College of Science’s Botany Greenhouse!

Besides watering, we have been doing a lot of repotting in the greenhouse. Today Vlad repotted some orchids from the Llo...
05/29/2026

Besides watering, we have been doing a lot of repotting in the greenhouse. Today Vlad repotted some orchids from the Lloyd Driver Orchid Collection.

This photo of the Lloyd Driver Orchid Collection in 1993 is one of the fascinating photos that was found while working w...
05/27/2026

This photo of the Lloyd Driver Orchid Collection in 1993 is one of the fascinating photos that was found while working with the Eberly Family Science Special Collections Library. This photo of the orchid room was taken after the tear down and replacement of the original greenhouses in 1992. There appears to be many orchids and ferns that inhabited the room. Today the room contains lots of orchids but also our Cacao trees, Amborella, Nepenthes and some other interesting plants.

On Friday, Vlad and Kim planted our Welwitschia mirabilis seeds, that UC Davis Botanical Conservatory gave us. Fingers c...
05/26/2026

On Friday, Vlad and Kim planted our Welwitschia mirabilis seeds, that UC Davis Botanical Conservatory gave us. Fingers crossed that they germinate and we can add some new little seedlings to our Welwitschia collection! Thank you UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

Our Epiphyllum oxypetalum, also known as Queen of the Night, is starting to bloom! Unfortunately, it will probably be fu...
05/22/2026

Our Epiphyllum oxypetalum, also known as Queen of the Night, is starting to bloom! Unfortunately, it will probably be fully open over the weekend. The flowers open at dusk, reach full bloom around midnight, and close by morning.

Our carnivorous plants in room 111 were given a nice re-pot prior to coming out of dormancy. The greenhouse’s collection...
05/22/2026

Our carnivorous plants in room 111 were given a nice re-pot prior to coming out of dormancy. The greenhouse’s collections contain various species of Dionaea (Venus fly traps), Drosera (Sundews), Pinguicula (Butterworts), Sarracenia (Pitcher Plants) and Nepenthes (Pitcher Plants). Our plants are really putting on a show with their flowers and new growth.

The Amborella in the Lloyd Driver Orchid Collection Room finally received a much-needed re-pot. The Amborella in the gre...
05/21/2026

The Amborella in the Lloyd Driver Orchid Collection Room finally received a much-needed re-pot. The Amborella in the greenhouse are plants from the Amborella Genome Project that was led by the dePamphilis lab as they mapped the complete genome of this unique and unusual plant. The plants are currently fruiting and pushing out new growth and we are looking forward to seeing them flourish in their larger containers.

There are always exciting things happening in the greenhouse. Beautiful blooming flowers are one of those things!
05/20/2026

There are always exciting things happening in the greenhouse. Beautiful blooming flowers are one of those things!

Today some of our plants are getting a re-pot. Pictured below is Vlad potting up the greenhouse’s Amorphophallus konjac....
05/19/2026

Today some of our plants are getting a re-pot. Pictured below is Vlad potting up the greenhouse’s Amorphophallus konjac. This plant is native to warm subtropical to tropical areas of eastern Asia, including Vietnam, Japan and China south to Indonesia. It grows from a subterranean tuber which produces a single leaf. The tuber shrinks away as the new leaf grows and during the growing season a new, larger tuber replaces it. The fleshy leaf stalk is mottled pinkish-gray and olive green and the single leaf that it supports is divided into three sections, giving an umbrella-like effect. Larger tubers may produce a single inflorescence in late winter or spring before the foliage appears. The plant produces a brown-purple to maroon ruffled spathe that can be up to 3 feet long and surrounds a long pale green to purple or mottled spadix, which is the flower spike. When in bloom it produces an odor like a dead animal which is intended to attract the carrion flies that are its natural pollinators. The starchy tuber that this plant grows from are eaten in some parts of the world.

Another plant that is getting a new look in the greenhouse is our Welwitschia mirabilis. These fascinating plants grow i...
05/18/2026

Another plant that is getting a new look in the greenhouse is our Welwitschia mirabilis. These fascinating plants grow in a strip of desert that runs from Angola into Namibia. Each individual plant will only ever grow two leaves that will continue to expand from the basal meristem at the central part of the plant. They are gymnosperms, like conifers and cycads, so they produce tiny cones on separate male and female plants. As we try to improve our Welwitschia’s growing conditions, we have been receiving amazing information from the curator at UC Davis Botanical Conservatory. They also gave us some seeds from their amazing collection of Welwitschia so that we can expand our collection. Stay tuned for future posts and updates as we begin propagating the seeds! Thank you UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

Surprise! Our Ceropegia sandersonii is blooming! This intriguing vine is native to southern Africa. It is commonly known...
05/15/2026

Surprise! Our Ceropegia sandersonii is blooming! This intriguing vine is native to southern Africa. It is commonly known as the parachute or umbrella plant, named for its unusual parasol shaped flowers. They have evolved to mimic the scent of injured bees to attract flies in the Genus Desmometopa. These flies feed on the body fluids of bees that are already dead or dying in the clutches of spiders. The flies then become trapped inside the flowers. While trying to escape the flies are coated in pollen and after about a day are released once the flower begins to wilt.

One of our Castilleja plants, also known as Scarlet Paintbrush, in 111 is blooming but rather than the typical orange or...
05/14/2026

One of our Castilleja plants, also known as Scarlet Paintbrush, in 111 is blooming but rather than the typical orange or red coloring exhibited by the plant’s bracts, this one is yellow. According to the dePamphilis lab, the yellow bract variation is quite unusual in the Pennsylvania Castilleja populations. The only other recorded occurrence of yellow Castilleja in Pennsylvania was in May 2006 in Lebanon County. If anyone is curious, a bract is a modified leaf located at the base of a flower inflorescence. They often resemble petals and many people think they are the actual flower, but bracts serve to protect developing flower buds or attract pollinators with bright colors. The actual flowers tend to be less significant and showy. Other more common plants that have showy bracts include Poinsettia, Hydrangea and artichokes. Pictured is the Castilleja with yellow bracts and the Castilleja with the typical orange bracts.

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Buckhout Lab
University Park, PA
16803

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 3pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 3pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 3pm
Thursday 9:30am - 3pm
Friday 9:30am - 3pm

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