Jordan Hall Greenhouse offers beauty

The rubber tree’s waxy leaves plaster the steamy glass ceiling. Cacti stand straight against the windowpanes. Outside the glass, cars rush by on Third Street.

These plants and their leafy comrades make up a small part of the Jordan Hall Greenhouse’s treasures.

The greenhouse is currently featured in IU’s Summer Activities 2011 booklet, and summer’s slower pace may make it the ideal time to explore this treasure.

Greenhouse Supervisor John Lemon said he suspects many people don’t think to visit unless they’re already involved with plants.

“We probably have one of the best general plant collections in Indiana,”
Lemon said.

The greenhouse was built in 1955, along with the rest of the hall. The collection is housed in 11 sprawling rooms which branch off Jordan Hall’s east end.

The greenhouse’s primary purpose is for teaching and research, but it is open to the public seven days a week.

Lemon is just one of a small handful of people who care for the resident flora. Lemon has been there the longest — 39 years.

Two other gardeners, John Leichter and Michael O’Connor, have worked at the greenhouse for eight and 13 years, respectively.

Leichter said plants require their caretakers to be more visual.

“They can’t scream out when they’re in pain, but there are signs that tell you there’s a problem,” he said. “It’s kind of like taking care of a child.”

The “children” under the gardeners’ charge are many and varied. There’s the Brunfelsia jamaicensis or lady of the night, a shrub with creamy white flowers that only become fragrant after dusk.

Farther back, there’s the Ophioglossum or adder’s tongue, its name deriving from its stalks which look like snake tongues frozen in mid-hiss.  

“It’s a lot of hard work,” O’Connor said of the staff’s duties, which, in addition to basic watering, include fertilizing, pest control, pruning, re-potting, cleaning and breeding plants.

In the tropical section, the Heliconia humilis’ coral-red, pincer-like growths make it obvious why the plant’s common name is lobster’s claw. Less obvious is why the Hura crepitans, a lean and spiny tree, bears the common name of monkey dinner bell.

When the tree’s seed capsules are ripe, the pods explode with a loud bang, scattering seeds everywhere. Monkeys in the area hear the noise and come running to eat the seeds.

The Mimosa and venus flytraps are labeled “sensitive plants” because they are capable of rapid movement. Mimosa leaves fold up when they are touched or exposed to extreme heat, and the venus flytrap closes on insect prey that ventures within its bright green jaws.  

“The kids like the sensitive plants, and they want to know if the carnivorous plants like the flytraps eat meat,” O’Connor said.

Even though the gardeners see the plants every day, O’Connor said they don’t tire of them.

“There’s just something really beautiful about them. And the people that come here too.”