11 



PIJYA coerulea. 



Blue Puya. 



HEXANDRIA TRYGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Bromeliace^e. 



PUYA Molina. Sejjala subsequalia, mox convoluta. Petala inferne 

 convoluta, basi appencliculata, mox spiralia. Stamina inclusa; antherse li- 

 neares, basi emarginatse. Ovarium semisuperum, stigmatibus linearibus spi- 

 raliter convolutis. Capsule supera, cartilaginea, loculicido-trivalvis ; semina 

 atra, compressa, marginata. 



P. coerulea; foliis linearibus acuminatissimis spinoso-dentatis glabriusculis, 

 scapo paniculato, floribus pedicellatis bracteis oblongis concavis mem- 

 branaceis acuminatis longioribus, petalis plumbeo-coeruleis obtusis sepa- 

 lis multo longioribus. 



Pourretia coerulea. Miers' travels in Chile, p. 530. absq. descr. 



Folia 2-pedalia, canaliculata, subths obsolete furfuracea. Scapus 3-4- 



pedalis, foliis in vaginas membranaceas serratas mutatis arete imbricatus. 



Bractese membranacece, spathacece, injimce serratte, superiores inermes, /tores 



pedicellatos imbricantes. Sepala ovata, herbacea, corolld plus duplo breviora. 



Petala oblonga, obtusa, convoluta, basi squamd staminis basin amplectante 



aucta ; post anthesin convoluta et in colorem roseum mutata. Stamina alterna 



breviora; ea petalis opposita longiora ; antberis linearibus basi sagittatis. 



Ovarium semisuperum, 3-loculare, polyspermum ; placentis didymis ; stylus 



tripartibilis ; stigmatibus unilateralibus convolutis. 



A specimen of this singular plant was exhibited in 1838, 

 at one of the meetings of the Horticultural Society in Regent 

 Street, by Mr. Lambert, under the name of Pourretia coeru- 

 lea. I am informed by that gentleman that it is the species 

 so called by Mr. Miers, and that he has cultivated it, with 

 Pourretia coarctata, a finer plant, having stems seven or eight 

 feet high, each bearing several hundred flowers, and P. 

 rubricaulis, in a greenhouse nearly filled with them. 



From Puya, the Pourretia of the Flora Peruviana, as 

 defined by the younger Schultes, in his revision of the Brome- 

 liaceous order, in Romer and Schultes' Systema Vegetabilium, 

 it diff'ers in its ovary being only half superior, in having scales 



February, 1840. e 



