A SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS /ECHMEA. 133 



oblong bipinnate panicle four to six inches long, with crowded 

 more or less ascending distichous spicate branches one inch to one 

 inch and a half long, half inch broad, which are subtended by 

 lanceolate branch-bracts nearly as long as the branches, with close 

 minute horny serrations like the leaves. Flowers crowded, erecto- 

 patent, each enclosed in two coriaceous navicular flower-bracts, 

 the outer one under half an inch long, with a conspicuous pungent 

 mucro, the inner one smaller, its back entirely adnate to the 

 rachis. Calyx including the ovary one-half to five-eighths of an 

 inch long ; sepals lanceolate, distinctly mucronate, twice as long 

 as the ovary. Petals not seen. Martinique, Hahn, 522 ! 581 ! 

 (Herb. Kew.) Closely allied to ^S. bracteata, from which it may 

 be recognised easily by its firmer pectiuately-toothed branch- 

 bracts. 



3. M. DicHLAiiYDEA, Bake)', n. sp. — Leaves not seen. Panicle 

 deltoid, a foot long, with ten to twelve ascending branches consist- 

 ing of peduncled distichous spikes, subtended by lanceolate red 

 bracts, of which the lower are nearly as long as the branch. / 

 Peduncles one to three inches long. Spikes dense, oblong, two to 

 three inches long, an inch broad, each flower furnished with a pair 



of bracts, the outer one obloug-navicular, minutely cuspidate, half 

 an inch long, the inner one much smaller and almost entkely 

 adnate to the rachis. Calyx with ovary five-eighths of an inch 

 long ; sepals lanceolate, minutely cuspidate, rather longer than the 

 ovary. Petals scarcely longer than the sepals. Tobago, Gyey ! 

 (Herb. Mus. Brit.) 



4. M. GLAZIo^^I, Baker, n. sp. — Leaves lorate, one foot and a 

 half long, three inches broad at the dilated base, two inches broad 

 at the middle, obtuse with a cusp, armed with close ascending 

 horny brown teeth a line long. Scape one foot and a half to two 



feet long, furnished with many lanceolate ad^u-essed bracts. ^- 

 Panicle dense, oblong, bipinnate, four inches long by about half as 

 broad, the crowded erecto-j)atent distichous branches about an inch 

 long. Flower-bracts a quarter of an inch long, round-navicular, 

 with a distinct mucro. Calyx with ovary under half an inch long ; 

 sepals lanceolate, a quarter of an inch long, mmutely mucronate. 

 Petals red-purple, lingulate, half as long again as the sepals. Kio 

 Janeiro, (jrlaziou, 8986 ! (Herb. Kew.) Very like distichantha in 

 panicle and separate flowers, but different in leaf. It may be 

 HoplojjJujtum polystachyum, Beer, Brom., p. 137, founded u^Don a 

 very rough plate of the 'Flora Fluminensis,' vol. iii., tab. 138, 

 called Tillandsia pohjrytachya. 



5. M. DISTICHANTHA, Lcmaire, Jard. Fleur., t. 269; Hook, in y 

 Bot. Mag,, t. 5447. Billbergia pohjstachya, Paxt. Flow. Gard., iii., 



t. 80. Hoplophjjtum distichanthiun, Beer, Brom., 136. Hohcnheryia 

 distichantha, Baker in Saund. Pief. Bot. sub. t. 284. — Leaf with a 

 dilated oblong base four to five inches long, two and a half to three 

 inches broad, and an ensiform blade two to two and a half feet 

 long, an inch broad at the bottom, tapering gradually to a pungent 

 point, rigid in texture, channelled all the way down, back thinly 



