A SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS ^CHMEA. 227 



32. M. PATENTissiMA, Baker. — BiJIhergia / jmtentissima, Mart. ; 

 Sclmltes fil., Syst. Veg., vii. 1270. — Leaves linear-lorate, three to 

 four feet long, one inch to one inch and a quarter broad, minutely 

 serrated. Scape sheathed by lanceolate toothed or subentire 

 adpressed bract-leaves two inches to two and a half inches long. 

 Panicle one foot to three feet long, with short spreading densely 

 spicate branches, the lower four to five inches long, subtended by- 

 small lanceolate bracts. Flowers spreading, each subtended by 

 an ovate flower-bract with a pungent mucro, which is one-eighth • 

 to one-fifth of an inch long, and shorter than the ovary. 

 Sepals deltoid, one-eighth of an inch long, with a large pungent 

 mucro. Petals above a quarter of an inch long, pale lilac or 

 reddish, not scaled at the base. — Brazil, Martins. 



33. M. c^KULEscENS, Hovt. — ^^. cm'ulea, E. Morren, Cat., 1871, 

 1. — Lamprococciis ccErulescens, Eegel Gartenfl., 1871, 225, t. 694. — 

 Hoplophytum carulescens, E. Morren, Cat., 1873, 9. — Leaves with 

 a dilated oblong entire base and a lorate lamina fifteen to eighteen 

 inches long, one inch and a half to two inches broad, obtuse with 



a cusp, with close minute deltoid prickles. Scaj)e nearly as long as "^ 

 the leaves, sheathed by several pale lanceolate bract-leaves. 

 Flowers in a dense oblong- deltoid bip innate panicle four to five 

 inches long, two inches in diameter, with crowded flexuose 

 few-flowered branches, the flowers each with a pedicel one-sixth 

 to one-third of an inch long, with a minute subulate bract 

 at the base. Flower-bracts none or minute and caducous. Ovary 

 with calyx one-thii'd of an inch long ; sepals deltoid-cuspidate, a 

 third as long as the ovary. Petals Ungulate, bluish-red, one- 

 third of an inch long. — South America ; the precise country 

 not known. Introduced mto cultivation about 1870. Well-marked 

 from all the other sjDecies with small crowded bipinnate panicles 

 by its pedicellate flowers and obsolete flower-bracts. 



34. M. Melinonh, Hook, in Bot. Mag., t. 5235. — Hohenhergia 

 Melinojiii, Baker in Eef. Bot., sub. t. 284. — Leaves with a dilated 

 oblong utricular base about three inches broad, and a lorate lamina ^ 

 one foot and a half to two feet long, two inches broad at the 

 middle, with minute distant deltoid prickles. Sca^De about a foot 

 long, brownish. Flowers in a dense bipinnate thyrsoid panicle five 



six inches long, three to four inches broad, the lower branches 

 sometimes binate, bearing twelve to fifteen sessile erecto-i^atent 

 flowers ; the branch with a bract as long as itself. • Flower-bracts 

 minute, caducous. Calj^x including ovary five-eighths to three- 

 fourths of an inch long, bright red ; sepals oblong, obtuse, minutely 

 mucronate, half as long as the ovary. Petals bright red, a quarter 

 to one-third of an inch longer than the sepals. — French Guiana. 

 Introduced into cultivation in 1857. • y 



35. M. CuMiNGii, Baker, n. s]). — Leaves unknown. Scape 

 sheathed with lanceolate red bract-leaves with a few small hooked 

 teeth. Flowers in a dense bipinnate panicle six to eight inches 

 long, three to four inches broad, the lower branches spreading, 

 about two inches long, bearing ten to twelve erecto-patent sessile 



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