2013

The Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that houses a collection of rare and exotic plants in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. With construction having been completed in 1878, it is oldest building in the park. It was one of the first municipal conservatories constructed in the United States and is the oldest remaining municipal wooden conservatory in the country. It is an elaborate Victorian greenhouse with a central dome rising nearly 60 feet (18 m) high and arch-shaped wings extending from it for an overall length of 240 feet (73 m). The building sits atop a gentle slope overlooking Conservatory Valley. The structural members are articulated through one predominant form, a four-centered or Tudor arch. The building consists of a wood structural skeleton with glass walls set on a raised masonry foundation. It was constructed of wood rather than iron, as was common in the later part of the 19th century, because wood was plentiful in the west. Cast-iron greenhouses do not appear to have been widely manufactured in America until the 1880s. The entire structure has a shallow E-shaped plan that is oriented along an east-west axis. The central 60-foot (18 m) high pavilion is entered through a one-story, glassed-in vestibule with a gable roof on the south side of the pavilion. Flanking the rotunda to the east and west are one-story, symmetrical wings framed by wood arches. Each wing is L-shaped in plan, with cupolas adorning the intersection of the two segments. The conservatory is a haven where visitors can browse some of the world’s most exotic-looking blooms. Highly praised in the world of history, architecture, engineering, and nature, the Conservatory of Flowers has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of San Francisco’s most valued landmarks.

Impressively primordial in appearance, these groups of Australian and New Zealand tree ferns tower over other flora and lean out over the paths just south of the Conservatory of Flowers and toward the Lily Pond. I must admit that the experience was a little spooky – I kept wondering whether a carnivorous dinosaur would suddenly emerge from behind them! Not surprisingly, this part of the park was a favourite of the hippies in the 1960’s when it was sometimes referred to as Mescaline Grove.

In heraldry, the term sea-lion (sometimes called a morse) refers to a legendary creature that has the head and upper body of a lion, but with webbed forelimbs and a fish tail. These occur most frequently as supporters, but also occur as crests and occasionally as charges. Sea-lions are frequently found in "sejant" or "sejant-erect" (sitting upright) attitudes, but may also be found "naiant" (horizontally, as if swimming) or "assurgeant" (issuing from the waves of the sea).