The Lyman Plant House is home to more than 2,500 species of plants selected from a wide variety of families and habitats, and it comprises one of the best collections of tropical, subtropical and desert plants in the country. It opened in 1895 under the leadership of Smith President Laurenus Clark Seelye, who envisioned the campus as an outdoor botany classroom that included plants and trees from around the world and afforded students both pleasure and an education. The plant house is one of the few remaining conservatories built in the 19th century. Each year visitors flock to the conservatory for the spring bulb show and fall chrysanthemum show.