BROMELIACEAE 245 



filiform above the slightly dilated base. Flowers perfect, axillary, normally solitary. Sepals 

 3, imbricated. Petals surpassing the sepals, yellow or greenish. Stamens 6 or rarely 3, 

 included : filaments filiform. Style slender. Stigma 3-lobed. Capsule prismatic, finally 

 septicidally o-valved. 



1. Dendropogon usneoides ( L. ) Raf . Scurfy with silvery -gray scales. Stems 

 string-like, spiral-zigzag, hanging in festoons 1-6 m. long, from the branches of trees : 

 leaves scattered, slender, linear-filiform, 2.5-8 cm. long, pubescent like the stem : flowers 

 fragrant, especially at night : peduncles shorter than the leaves : sepals green, oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate, 5-7 mm. long, acute : petals linear-spatulate, about twice as long as the 

 sepals, their spreading tips yellowish green : capsules linear, 15-30 mm. long. [Tilland- 

 sia usneoides L. ] 



On trees, mostly near the coast, Virginia to Florida, Texas and Central America. Long Moss, Span- 

 ish Moss. Florida Moss. 



2. TILLANDSIA L. 



Rigid epiphytes, or rarely terrestrial herbs. Stems firm, often scape-like. Leaves 



mainly basal, commonly crowded, mostly dilated or saccate at the base, tapering to the 



apex, entire or variously toothed. Flowers perfect in terminal simple or branched spikes. 



Sepals 3, firm, distinct. Petals 3, deciduous, with erect claws and narrow blades. Stamens 



6 : filaments free. Style filiform. Stigmas spreading. Ovules ascending. Capsule oblong 



or narrowly prismatic, septicidally 3-valved. Seeds nearly erect from an erect stalk, 



which separates into delicate hairs, acute. Our species are all epiphytic. Air Plant. 



Flowering stems scape-like, filiform or nearly so, with 1 or 2 inconspicuous sheathing scales. 



Foliage clothed with a fuzzy scurf. 1. T. recurvata. 



Foliage clothed with peltate scales. 2. T. Wdsonii. 



Flowering stems conspicuously leafy, their leaves smaller than the basal ones. 

 Basal leaves about as long as the stems or surpassing them. 

 Leaf-blades less than 2 cm. broad at the base. 

 Leaves of the stems scurfy. 



Leaf-blades abruptly contracted at the base, the dilated part very short. 3. T. tenmfoha. 

 Leaf-blades gradually contracted, the basal dilated part J^ or 3^ as long 



as the leaf. 4. T.jimeea. 



Leaves of the stems glabrous. 5. T. fcstucoides. 



Leaf-blades more than 2 cm. broad at the base. 



Leaves dilated at the base but not bladder-like, erect or ascending, nearly 

 straisht. 

 Bracts ^ribbed : leaf-blades tender, flat or nearly so. 6. T. Valenzuelana. 



Bracts not ribbed : leaf-blades rigid, involute. 7. T. fasciculata. 



Leaves with bladder-like dilations at the base, diffusely spreaciing and 

 twisted. 

 Dilated leaf-bases over 3.5 cm. broad, not conspicuously ciliate : inflo- 

 rescence usually compound. 8. T. Balbisiana. 

 Dilated leaf-bases less than .3. .5 cm. broad, conspicuously ciliate: inflo- 

 rescence usually simple. 9. T. Bailey i. 

 Basal leaves shorter than the stems. 



Bracts and flowers erect or appressed to the rachis. 



Leaves of the stem with long spreading or recurved tips. 



Stems rarely 2 dm. tall : inflorescence simple. 10. T. circinata. 



Stems 4 dm. tall or taller : inflorescence branched, 11. T. polystachya. 



Leaves of the stem merely clasping scales. 12. T. utriculata. 



Bracts and flowers more or less strongly spreading. 13. T. aloi/olia. 



1. Tillandsla recurvata L. Rather slender. Foliage fuzzy-scurfy : stems tufted, 

 5-15 cm. long, more or less branched, scape-like, with 1 or 2 inconspicuous long-sheathing 

 scales : leaves 2-ranked, numerous ; blades setaceous-filiform from short dilated sheathing 

 bases, these 3-4 mm. broad : flowers usually 2 together : bracts lanceolate, 10-15 mm. long : 

 sepals lanceolate, 7-9 mm. long, acute : petals violet-blue, 12-14 mm. long, each with a nar- 

 row claw and somewhat broader blade : capsules cylindric-prismatic, 2-2.5 cm. long, more 

 than twice as long as the bracts. 



In swamps, Florida, to Texas and Mexico, and in tropical America. 



2. Tillandsia ■Wilsonil S. Wats. Dwarf. Foliage hoary with closely set small pel- 

 tate brown-centered scales : stems slender, solitary, recurved, 2.5-10 cm. long, with 2 bract- 

 like leaves : basal leaves numerous, nearly terete, 2.5-10 cm. long, attenuate from the clasp- 

 ing base, curved : flowers and fruit unknown. 



On branches of Juniperus, Hernando County, Florida. 



3. Tillandsia tenuifolia L. Rather slender, scurfy, sometimes reddish. Stems 

 tufted, sometimes recurving, 2-3 dm. long, simple : leaves numerous, erect or ascending ; 

 blades about as long as the stem or longer, abruptly contracted at the base, thence linear- 

 subulate, the dilated base 8-12 mm. long : spikes 4-7 cm. long, continuous : bracts oblong or 

 oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm. long, abruptly pointed : sepals leathery, lanceolate, 10-12 mm. 



