PONTEDERIACEAE. 



65 



1. Piaropus crassipes (Mart.) 

 Britton. WATER HYACINTH. (Fig. 

 V-.) Floating or rooting in the mud. 

 Foliage glabrous below; leaves erect, 

 or ascending; petioles elongated, 

 wholly or partly inflated or sometimes 

 gradually tapering from the base; 

 blades l-3 broad, ovate to orbicu- 

 lar or nearly reniform, leathery; 

 scapes 4'-16' tall, simple ; spad'ix 

 glandular-pubescent; perianth showy, 

 bluish purple ; tube curved, about 1' 

 long; lobes suborbicular or obovate, 

 longer than the tube, the upper one 

 with a yellow center. [Pontederia 

 crassipes Mart. ; Eichornia crassipes 

 Solms; Pontederia azurea of H. B. 

 Small.] 



In water, Devonshire and Pembroke 

 Marshes, multiplying so rapidly that it 

 chokes outlets and has to be removed 

 at intervals. Introduced. Native of the 

 West Indies and tropical continental 

 America. Completely naturalized in 

 Florida, where it chokes streams and 

 rivers, impeding navigation. Flowers in 

 summer and autumn. 



Family 3. BROMELIACEAE J. St. Hil. 



PINE-APPLE FAMILY. 



Epiphytic herbs (some species terrestrial or on rocks), mostly scurfy, 

 with elongated, entire or spinulose-serrate leaves. Flowers spiked, pan- 

 icled, or solitary, regular and perfect, usually conspicuously bracted. 

 Perianth of 3 thin distinct or somewhat united sepals, and 3 clawed dis- 

 tinct or united petals. Stamens 6, usually inserted on the base of the 

 corolla. Ovary inferior or superior, 3-celled; ovules numerous in each 

 cavity, anatropous; style short or elongated; stigmas 3. Capsule 3-valved 

 in our species. Seeds numerous, the testa membranous. Embryo small, 

 situated at the base of the copious endosperm. About 35 genera and 900 

 species, all natives of tropical and subtropical America. 



No species of the family is native or naturalized. 



Dendropogon usneoides (L.) Raf. [Tillandsia usneoides L.], LONG-MOSS, 

 FLORIDA Moss, SPANISH Moss, of the southeastern United States and West 

 Indies, a much-branched, grey-green, scurfy plant with drooping, thread-like 

 stems, filiform leaves and small axillary flowers with linear-spatulate petals, has 

 been introduced for interest and grown on trees and porches, in places appear- 

 ing almost naturalized. 



Guzmania lingulata (L.) Mez., CAPITATE GUZMANIA, of tropical America, 

 growing naturally on rocks and trees, is a stout-stemmed plant about 1 high, 

 with tufted, linear, pointed leaves 1 long or less, about 1' wide, the yellowish 

 flowers in a terminal dense head subtended by foliaceous red bracts, the cap- 

 sular fruits narrowly oblong, containing many seeds provided with brown wool; 



6 



