Tas. 7966. 
PITCAIRN TA sPpATHACEA. 
Native of Argentina. 
Nat. Ord. Brometiaceax.—Tribe Picatrniex. 
Genus Pitcarrnia, L’Hérit.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 665.) 
Pircarrnia spathacea ; acaulis, foliis patentibus vel recurvis lineari-acuminatis 
usque ad 16 poll. longis 1 poll. latis supra primum furfuraceis demum 
glabris subtus perpetuo albo-squamatis, spinis sursum curvatis mar- 
ginatis, pedunculis 1 ped. altis, paniculis fere 2 ped. altis, bracteis 
navicularibus acuminatis dilute roseis, sepalis ovatis valde acuminatis 
pedice!lo multo Jongioribus dilute roseis apice viridibus 1 poll. longis, 
petalis obovatis obtusis convolutis basi nudis obscure ceruleis 1} poll. 
_longis, ovario ovoideo, stvlo auam ovario triplo longiore, stigmate brevi 
spiraliter contorto. 
P. spathacea, Griseb. in Goett. Abh. vol. xxiv. (1879) p. 329; Baker, Handb. 
Bromel. p. 102. 
Puya spathacea, Mez in DC. Monogr. Phan. vol. ix. p. 481. 
This is one of the few species of Pitcairnia having petals 
destitute of a basal scale inside. It was discovered by 
Lorentz on the banks of the Rio Primero, Argentina. The 
date of its introduction into cultivation is not known, but 
the plant from which our figure was taken in February 
last was raised from seeds received from the Breslau 
Botanic Garden in 1896, and has been grown with other 
hard-leaved Bromeliacew in the Succulent House at Kew, 
where they grow better than in a more humid atmosphere. 
The genera Pitcairnia and Puya are very closely allied, 
differing chiefly in the capsule of the former being septi- 
cidal in dehiscence, and more or less adnate to the calyx, 
while in the latter it is loculicidal and quite free. It was 
probably on account of the very slight degree of union of 
ovary and calyx that the present species was transferred 
to Puya by Mez. About 130 species of Pitcairnia are 
known, of which about twenty have been figured in the 
Magazine, some of them under the name of Puya._ 
P. atrorubens, Baker (Puya Warscewiczii, Wendl.—B. M. t. 
5225), is a striking plant with a dense spike of pale yellow 
flowers subtended by large purplish-brown imbricate 
bracts, which again flowered at Kew last year. In other 
species the inflorescence is more lax, varying from a simple 
JuLy lst, 1904, ; oe 
