The Glass House of the Cleveland Botanical Garden acts as a reproduction of the environmental habitat of the African Island of Madagascar, which is more than 9,000 miles away from Northeast Ohio. A bizarre landscape with endangered plants and exotic plants allows visitors to transport themselves to Africa.  Visitors can see a chameleon, a yellow-throated plated lizard, and radiated tortoises.

Animals to find at Madagascar Display at the Botanical Garden

Guests can search for and occasionally spot the resident chameleon.  Ernie is the five year old chameleon who lives in Madagascar at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

Yellow Throated Plated Lizard
 

The Radiated Tortoise can live to be 50 years of age. There are three roaming tortoises that like to call the sand of the glass house their home.

Plants to find at Madagascar Display at the Botanical Gardens

Plants in the African habitat include the famous baobab tree which is one of the largest in the United States under glass. Also on display are spiny succulents including the pachypodium and the alluaudia. Most of the plants in this area are protected by international conservation treaties.

The largest Baobab at the botanical garden is too big to be real.  And in fact, the mammoth tree is made of concrete. The upside down tree holds many other plants on display. However, the Botanical Garden has several living Baobab trees on display.  These trees can grow up to 36 feet fall and are significantly smaller than the concrete look alike. However, these are still some of the largest trees grown under glass in the world.


This plant nicknamed the elephant foot plant and stores water in the root base so that it can withstand drought.  The vine grows on top of the large root base which sits at ground level.


This plant is thorny with little leaves that cover the plant.