Narcissales.J 



BROMELIACE^. 



14; 



Order XLII. BROMELIACEiE.— Bromelworts. 



Biomelis, Juss. Gen. 49. (1789) ; Diet. Se. Nat. 5. 347. il817).— Bromeliacec-c, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. fol. 

 lOfiS. (1827) ; Bartl. On!. Nat. 46. (1830) ; Schult. f. in Rim. and Seft. Si/.st. Veg. vol. 7. (1830) ; 

 Endl. Gen, Ixv. ; Meisn. p. 395. Tillandsieae, Adr. Juss. Coiirs Elim. tab. 3. 



Diagnosis. — Nareissal EndogenswitJi tri-petaloideous six-leaved fiowers having imlricatcd 

 divisions, and mealy albumen. 



Stemless or short-stemmed plants, with rigid chamielled leaves often covered with 

 cuticular scales, and spiny at the edge or point. Flowers with gay colours, in racemes 



or panicles. Calyx 3-parted or tubular, 

 persistent, never withering, more or less 

 cohering with the ovary, usually herba- 

 ceous, sometimes coloured. Petals 3, 

 coloured, withering or deciduous, equal 

 or unequal, rigidly imbricated. Stamens 

 6, inserted into the tube of the calyx and 

 corolla ; anthers opening mwards. Ovary 

 3-celled, many-seeded ; o\ailes anatropal ; 

 style smgle ; stigma 3-lobed, or entire, 

 often twisted. Fruit capsular or succu- 

 lent, 3-celled, many-seeded. Seeds innu- 

 merable in most cases, always numerous, 

 with a leathery skin, or tapering mto a 

 slender thread ; embryo taper, curved 

 or straight, minute, lying in the base of 

 mealy albumen, with the radicle next 

 the hilum. 



Stratiotes among the Hydi'ocharads has 

 so much the foliage of this Order as to ren- 

 der it probable, taking the fructification also 

 into account, that the nearest affinity of 

 the Bromelwort Order is with the former. 

 It is, however, essentially distmguished 

 by its seeds havmg mealy albumen. This 

 eu'cumstance also cuts it off from the Amaryllids and Hypoxids. The habit of Bromel- 

 worts is peculiar ; they are hard di-y-leaved plants, often \nth a scm-fy surface ; the 

 species are frequently capable of sustaining long di'ought without inconvenience. 

 There can be no doubt about the Order belonging to an eiDig^mous series, and yet 

 the whole race of Tillandsias has the ovary free ; but it is never, I beUeve, wholly 

 so, but has always so much union to the calyx at the base as will show its adherent 

 tendency. Besides, the sepals are always as fleshy, to the last, as if they were ab- 

 solutely incorporated with the ovary. Nevertheless, Adrien de Jussieu regards the 

 free genera as a pecuhar Order, which he calls Tillandsiese. 



All, without exception, are natives of the contment or islands of America, whence they 

 have migrated eastwards in such numbers as to have estal)hshed themselves as part of 

 the present Flora of the west coast of Africa, and some parts of the East Indies. They 

 are all capable of existing in a dry hot air Avithout contact with the earth ; on whicli 

 account they are favom'ites in South American gardens, where they are suspended in 

 the buildmgs, or hung to the balustrades of the balconies ; situations in which they 

 flower abundantly, filling the air with fragrance. 



The most remarkable species is the Fine Apple, or Ananas, which is well known for 

 the sweetness and fine aromatic flavour of its fruit ; in its wild state, however, and unripe, 

 its fruit is excessively acid, burning the gums. In the West Indies it is employed, 

 along with Bromelia Pinguin and others, to destroy intestinal worms, and to promote 

 the secretion of urine. Tillandsia usneoides hangs down from the trees in the woods 

 of tropical America hke long dry beards, and is used for stuffing birds, and in the 



Fig. XC\ 



Fig. XCVI.— 1. Flower of Bromelia fastuosa ; 2. a flower of Pitcairnia. ringens ; 3. the stamens of 

 the same ; 4. its seed ; 5 a cross section of the seed of Bromelia Pinguin ; 6. a section of its seed ; 

 7. a cross section of the ovarv of Bromelia fastuosa. 



l2 



