BROMELIADS — FOSTER 355 



minute stamens even hide the petals, to the large, lovely blue-violet 

 flowers 2 inches in diameter of the Tillandsia Lindenii of Ecuador. 

 Flowers that stay open for several days are the exception, but a stranger 

 exception is the flower of a new and as yet unnamed Aechmea I found 

 in Brazil that opens after midnight ; 3 hours later the petals close and 

 begin to dissolve into the sweet nectar already formed at the perianth. 

 Wliile each species has its more or less regular blooming period, I have 

 by careful and persistent search found a great number of species 

 blooming out of their "time" for some unknown reason. 



Along with the variance in flower sizes goes a peculiar range of 

 odors: the white flower of one of our new species (Vriesia hamata) 

 smells like an onion, another {Vriesia vulpinoides) , like a fox. Some 

 have an exquisitely sweet perfume as in Tillandsia decomposifa, or the 

 fresh fragrance of a ripening apple as in the unopened buds of the 

 new Vriesia Raci^iae. Wlien this flower opens, the fragi'ance disap- 

 pears. The majority of bromeliad flowers, however, have little fra- 

 grance. While the flowers, it is agreed, generally produce the odor, in 

 the case of Aechmea pur-pure o-rosea I have found that the entire 

 inflorescence independent of the flowers has a "toilet soap" fragrance 

 for weeks before and after the flowers are open, as well as during the 

 blooming period. 



The color of the flowers covers the entire range of the spectrum, but 

 the predominant hue seems to be in the lavender to blue range, although 

 white, yellow, green, and red are frequent. Most of the bromeliads 

 are colorful during the blooming period but not always because of the 

 flowers. Many species have small and inconspicuous flowers, but the 

 colorful red bracts or leaves surrounding them will give the inflores- 

 cence the brilliant and dashing display so much admired. In some 

 species as, for example, Cryptanthopsis navioides, the entire plant 

 turns scarlet at blooming time, but as soon as the flowers have finislied 

 their mission the color of the leaves fades away and it becomes just 

 another gi-een plant. 



One of the new Neoregelias that we found holds its blaze of color 

 in the wide cup bracts for months, until after the seeds have matured. 

 But some of the Nidulariums that so colorfully surround their lavender 

 flowers with a rosette of bright red bracts give up that color after tlic 

 last flower is gone. 



The fundamental motif of plant form in this family is a whorl of 

 leaves forming a rosette. In most of the terrestrial bromeliads the 

 rosette form is obvious and resembles to a certain extent the familiar 

 pineapple plant. In many of the epiphytes, of both the rosette and 

 tubular form, the leaves are held so securely above the base that tliey 

 become most efficient reservoirs and hold rain water constantly. In 

 many of the Tillandsias the rosette form is close and the leaves are 



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