Tas. 6670. 
BILLBERGIA PoRTEANA, 
Native of Brazil. 
Nat. Ord. Bromettacex.—Tribe BRoMELIER. 
Genus Bintpereia, Thunb. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p- 664, ined.) 
Bitisereta (Helicodea) Porteana; acaulis, foliis paucis loratis rigide coriaceis 
3—4-pedalibus obscure viridibus purpureo tinctis vittis pluribus transversalibus 
albidis decoratis, pedunculo farinoso foliis subduplo breviori, bracteis pluribus 
lanceolatis magnis patulis splendide rubris, floribus pluribus ebracteatis in 
spicam laxam pendulam dispositis, ovario oblongo farinoo multisulcato, calycis 
segmentis deltoideis parvis, petalis lanceolatis viridibus basi appendiculatis 
post anthesin spiraliter tortis, staminibus purpureis, antheris linearibus basifixis, 
stigmatibus spiraliter convolutis. 
B. Porteana, Brong.; Beer. Fam. Bromel. p- 115; K. Koch in Wochenschrift 
1860, p. 146; EF. Morren in Belg. Hort. vol. xxvi. (1876), p. 9, tab. 1-3. 
This is one of the most striking of all the cultivated 
Bromeliacew. It belongs to the section of the genus of 
which the well-known Billbergia zebrina (figured in the 
Borantcan Magazine in 1826 at Tab. 2686, under the 
name of Bromelia zebrina, and described by Dean Herbert) 
is the typical representative. These plants, which Lemaire 
proposed to separate generically under the name Helicodea, 
are remarkable for the way in which the petals roll up 
spirally from the top when the flower begins to fade. The 
present plant was discovered by M. Marius Porte, after 
whom it is named, in the province of Bahia, in Brazil, in 
1849, and was sent by him to M. Morel, of Paris, after 
whom another very fine species of the genus was named. 
It was named by M. Adolphe Brongniart, but was first 
described fully by Dr. Karl Koch. I have seen in the 
herbarium of the latter the specimen from which this 
description was made, and a drawing from it is now at 
Kew. The plant is now widely spread in cultivation, and 
is universally reckoned one of the most desirable Bro- 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1883. 
