Born in 1492

Many decorative plants we know today come from the Carribean. Christopher Columbus found the people of the Carribean cultivating bromeliads and subsequently took them to back to Spain.

Columbus wrote in his journal:

A thousand different sorts of trees, with their fruit were to be met with, and of a wonderfully delicious odor. It was a great affliction to me to be ignorant of their natures, for I am very certain they are all valuable; specimens of them and of the plants I have preserved.

Chamaedorea or bamboo palms and their products are used extensively in the floricultural and horticultural industries and come from Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. These are excellent for indoors, some supplying rich greenness and others an elegant sparceness with their undulating upright stems.

Prior to the 1950s, cycads (Zamiaceae: Ceratozamia, Dioon, Zamia) had been exploited as popular as ornamentals due to their beauty, rarity and toughness. Although many cycad species are exported by Mexico, countries such as Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. All cycads are regulated by CITES, which has encouraged their horticultural production.