Cool little easter egg of the Marjorie McNeely conservatory in MN

[RevRad]

I know, it's not in full sun, it's not the absolute healthiest plant on Earth, but it's cool they have 2 of these kava plants growing in one of their tropical rooms.

They're of course not growing it for use, just for display. This is my favorite place to be in the world, not because of the kava but the diverse plant life, and they even have around a dozen bird species in their humid high heat tropical room. If I was a high level millionaire I'd have one built myself, it's absolutely beautiful.

 

[Zac Imiola (Herbalist)]

Dude that's awesome I wish I had something like that near me

 

[Alia]

A Little background...
Very glad to see the 2 cultivars are still growing. I sent cuttings some years ago. Should be Nene and Hiwa. The Horticulturist who asked me to send them is retired now but she had come to Hawai'i as a UM student. Prof. Dennis McKenna was doing his yearly trip here with students studying medicinal plants. We had an 'awa workshop. I know a few Botanical Garden Greenhouses on the US Mainland that think they have kava plants but actually some other Piper. Sad that even a NY Botanical garden published kava paper a few years ago had a photo of Piper auritum labeled methysticum.

 

[RevRad]

A Little background...
Very glad to see the 2 cultivars are still growing. I sent cuttings some years ago. Should be Nene and Hiwa. The Horticulturist who asked me to send them is retired now but she had come to Hawai'i as a UM student. Prof. Dennis McKenna was doing his yearly trip here with students studying medicinal plants. We had an 'awa workshop. I know a few Botanical Garden Greenhouses on the US Mainland that think they have kava plants but actually some other Piper. Sad that even a NY Botanical garden published kava paper a few years ago had a photo of Piper auritum labeled methysticum.

Wow! What a coincidence to find the person who sent these to the conservatory. That's awesome!

 

[_byron]

A Little background...
Very glad to see the 2 cultivars are still growing. I sent cuttings some years ago. Should be Nene and Hiwa. The Horticulturist who asked me to send them is retired now but she had come to Hawai'i as a UM student. Prof. Dennis McKenna was doing his yearly trip here with students studying medicinal plants. We had an 'awa workshop. I know a few Botanical Garden Greenhouses on the US Mainland that think they have kava plants but actually some other Piper. Sad that even a NY Botanical garden published kava paper a few years ago had a photo of Piper auritum labeled methysticum.

haha small world i live 5 min from these plants crazy they can be traced back on here

 

[Kavashua]

Dude that's awesome I wish I had something like that near me

Do you ever travel the Philly area? If so the Mutter museum has as small herbal garden dedicated to medical plants that are used for folk/traditional medicine (no kava though)