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| A bit of the tropics in the heart of Poznan |
| Friday, 06 November 2009 16:35 |
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Those who do not like winter on cold and cloudy days may, at least for a while, visit the Palmiarnia in Poznan (the palm house) in Wilson Park,
just a few hundred metres from the Main Railway Station (Poznan Główny). It is the only place in Poznan where the temperature throughout the year stays at a level above 20°C. The Palmiarnia was established over 90 years ago in one of the most beautiful of Poznan’s parks, named after Theodore Wilson, a former president of the United States and a great advocate of independent Poland. In its infancy, the Palmiarnia was not big, occupying slightly more than 500 square metres. At that time, three small rooms housed tropical plants and a collection of cacti. Then, in the early 1920s, the first Polish aquarium and a small pool for water plants were set up there and so following years have seen the venue being gradually developed. Unfortunately though, most of the buildings and virtually the entire collection of plants were destroyed at the beginning of 1945, during the fighting for liberation of the city. Following the Second World War, the Palmiarnia was gradually reconstructed, yet the works were not finished for good until several years ago. Until then, the Palmiarnia had been closed for modernisation. The contemporary Palmiarnia houses 10 pavilions with a total area of over 45,000 square metres, each of them presenting the flora of different climatic zones. Visitors may thus admire subtropical and tropical plants, water plants, species of the moderate climate, American succulent plants and savannah plants. From among the thousands of various species, it is worth paying particular attention to a few special ones. The central pavilion houses, among others, a Sabal minor palm tree, one of the few original plants to have survived 1945, the critical year in this venue’s history. The main attraction of the neighbouring pavilion No. 2 is the constantly fruiting citrus orchard, and in the tropical pavilion, you can see a formation of so called epiphyte, i.e. a group of plants overgrowing other, mostly wood plants, which are not parasites. These include orchids, ferns, bromeliads, and even cacti. The central place in the water plant room is occupied by a pool with Victoria amazonica, with leaves covered with sharp thorns, reaching 2 metres in diameter. It has an unusual structure and displacement making it capable of bearing the weight of a small child. When visiting the Poznan Palmiarnia, it is also worth visiting the aquaria hall. This pavilion comprises 37 different water containers showcasing over 170 species of fish. |
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