11 
PUYA ceerulea. 
Blue Puya. 
HEXANDRIA TRYGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. BROMELIACEX. 
PUYA Molina. Sepala subeegualia, mox convoluta. Petala inferné 
convoluta, basi appendiculata, mox spiralia. Stamina inclusa; antheree li- 
neares, basi emarginate, Ovarium semisuperum, stigmatibus linearibus spi- 
raliter convolutis. Capsule supera, cartilaginea, loculicido-trivalvis ; semina 
atra, compressa, marginata. 
P. cerulea; foliis linearibus acuminatissimis spinoso-dentatis glabriusculis, 
scapo paniculato, floribus pedicellatis bracteis oblongis concavis mem- 
branaceis acuminatis longioribus, petalis plumbeo-cceruleis obtusis sepa- 
lis multó longioribus. 
Pourretia coerulea. Miers’ travels in Chile, p. 530. absq. descr. 
Folia 2-pedalia, canaliculata, subtüs obsolete furfuracea. Scapus 3-4- 
pedalis, foliis in vaginas membranaceas serratas mutatis arctéó imbricatus. 
Bractee membranacee, spathacee, infime serrate, superiores inermes, flores 
pedicellatos imbricantes. | Sepala ovata, herbacea, corollá plus dupld breviora. 
Petala oblonga, obtusa, convoluta, basi squamá staminis basin amplectante 
aucta; post anthesin convoluta et in colorem roseum mutata. Stamina alterna 
breviora; ea petalis opposita longiora; antheris linearibus basi sagittatis. 
Ovarium semisuperum, 3-loculare, polyspermum ; placentis didymis; stylus 
tripartibilis ; stigmatibus unilateralibus convolutis. 
A specimen of this singular plant was exhibited in 1838, 
at one of the meetings of the Horticultural Society in Regent 
Street, by Mr. Lambert, under the name of Pourretia ceru- 
lea. I am informed by that gentleman that it is the species 
so called by Mr. Miers, and that he has cultivated it, with 
Pourretia coarctata, a finer plant, having stems seven or eight 
feet high, each bearing several hundred flowers, and P. 
rubricaulis, in a greenhouse nearly filled with them. 
From Puya, the Pourretia of the Flora Peruviana, as 
defined by the younger Schultes, in his revision of the Brome- 
liaceous order, in Romer and Schultes’ Systema Vegetabilium, 
it differs in its ovary being only half superior, in having scales 
February, 1840. E 
