BROMELIADS — FOSTER 365 



they germinated in 2 days; at the end of 4 weeks they were 6 inches 

 high and ready to be phiced in pots. At 3 months of age they were 

 glabrous, succulent, green as grass, and showed no trace of resem- 

 blance (as most bromeliads do even at an earlier age) to the parent 

 plant, which is a gray-brown, blotched plant with a texture like 

 emery paper. 



Some of the species that have a wide range will vary so much in 

 plant form, and at the same time have flowers so much alike, that 

 they would exasperate almost any botanist. Again, there are many 

 species, especially in the genus Vriesia, in which the plant forms 

 appear to be almost identical, but which have entirely different 

 flowers. I suspect that many botanists have passed by some of these 

 more closely similar plants without realizing that there might be a 

 new species among them. 



I have had one advantage over the botanist who collects only 

 blooming or fruiting material. I take the living specimens as well as 

 the herbarium material, and the plants coming to bloom at a later 

 date in my greenhouse have given me fresh material to be studied 

 before the process of drying destroys certain characteristics. They 

 have also given me flower material which I would otherwise not 

 have procured unless I had made another trip in some other season. 



From the hundreds of visitors who come to our Orchidario in 

 Florida to see the plants we have gathered comes an almost universal 

 exclamation: "It must be thrilling to go into the jungles and get 

 all these wonderful plants!" They see the romance only; we, too, 

 see that romance as we look at the interesting flowers and plants. 

 But we recall also other things that intensify the memories of 

 tropical exploration — the bites of mosquitoes, carapatos, bichous, and 

 giant ants, the stings of huge swarms of bees and wasps, the pene- 

 trating of areas where malaria, yellow fever, or Chagas' disease is 

 prevalent, the difficulties of transportation, food, water, and shelter. 

 And invariably the most beautiful flower is safely perched just 

 beyond the point that is possible to reach. 



And not the least of these memories is the preparation of thou- 

 sands of herbarium specimens. These specimens may have to be 

 made from a 14-pound juicy flower head or from stiff, spiny leaves 9 

 feet long. They must be preserved regardless of the weather — in 

 tropical rains and heat, or on cold, humid mountain tops. It is the 

 surmounting of all these difficulties and conditions that produces 

 the romance for our memory. But it is this part of the affair that 

 would take most of the romance out of a jungle experience for many 

 people, so they collect their jungle flowers from the florist. 



