University of Illinois Conservatory and Plant Collection

The University of Illinois Conservatory and Plant Collection is a conservatory

Conservatory (greenhouse)

A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...

(2,000 square foot) and botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

located in the Plant Sciences Laboratory Greenhouses, on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

campus, 1201 South Dorner Drive, Urbana, Illinois

Urbana, Illinois

Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

. The conservatory is generally open to the public daily when the university is in session, though it may be closed for classes, research, or special events.

The conservatory houses over 200 species and 60 families of tropical and subtropical plants selected for their botanical interest or economic importance. Separate greenhouses contain fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s, bromeliads, cycad

Cycad

Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...

s, orchids, carnivorous plants, herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

and spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...

plants, and cacti

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

, euphorbia, and other succulents. There is also an outdoor butterfly garden.

Plants of special interest include Brighamia insignis, Lebronnecia
Lebronnecia
Lebronnecia is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the Malvaceae family.It contains the following species:* Lebronnecia kokioides...

kokioides, and Sauromatum
Sauromatum
Sauromatum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae. The genus contains only two species that are endemic to tropical Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Their inflorescences last for only a few hours to a day and give off an unpleasant smell. The inflorescence disperses its odor by...

venosum.

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