THE MONOCOTYLEDONES 



1981 



introrse anthers, and a gynoecium of three carpels with many anatropous 

 ovules. The fruit is a berry or a capsule, in the latter case the seeds being 

 very light or winged. The embryo is small and immersed in a mealy 

 endosperm. 



Fife. 1912. — .Icchmea brasilieusis. (irowint^ on bare rock in the 

 Jardim Botanico, Rio de Janeiro. 



Another genus which may be mentioned is Aechmea, with some fifty 

 species which occur in the West Indies and South x^merica (Fig. 1912). 



The most important genus is 

 Ananas. There are five species 

 including A. safivus, the Pineapple, 

 which is largely cultivated in the 

 East and West Indies, Queensland, 

 South Africa and Hawaii. The 

 fruit, which arises from a cluster 

 of stiff leaves, is formed by the 

 post-fertilization enlargement of 

 the axis and bracts of the inflor- 

 escence in which the generally 

 sterile fruits become embedded. 

 During development the main axis 

 grows on beyond the fruit and 

 forms a tuft of leaves. 



The only other genus which 



need be mentioned is Tillancisia. 



It contains about 400 species living 



in tropical America. Most of them 



are epiphytic, with cisterns similar 



to those described above, but T. 



USneoides, Sp2LmshM.OSs{Fig.l()l 2), ^'*^- 1913-— 7"' //<■?«;/«'« usneoides. Spanish 

 r 1 r r 1 1 Moss. Thread-like stems and leaves hane 



forms long festoons of branches intertwined in long masses. 



