230 A SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS iECHMEA. 



with a dilated entire oblong- deltoid utricular base three to four 

 inches long and broad, and an ensiform lamina about a foot long, 

 three-quarters of an inclr to one inch broad at the middle, armed 

 with spreading horny black prickles, those of the base a line long, 

 the upper ones smaller and more distant. Scape about afoot long, 

 the upper bract-leaves spreading, crowded, bright red, lanceolate, 

 two to three inches long, spine-ciliated. Flowers in a dense 

 cjdindrical x^anicle three to six inches long, one inch to one inch 

 and a half broad, with short ascending or spreading dense-flowered 

 secund spicate branches. Flower-bracts coriaceous, roundish, 

 wrapped quite round the flower, a quarter of an inch to one-third 

 of an inch long, minutely cuspidate. Calyx with ovary three- 

 eighths to five-eighths of an inch long ; sepals lanceolate, with a 

 sju'eading horny brown cusp. Petals yellow, twice as long as the 

 sepals. — French Guiana, Sai/ot, 560 ! British Guiana, Appun, 249 ! 

 Dutch Guiana, Hcrh. Ciiffuri. Maynas, Poppig. Barra do Eio 

 Negro, Spruce, 1204! Woods of the Yapura, Martins; and a 

 more robust variety, Avith broader, more horny leaves and larger 

 prickles, at Para, Bunhell, 9725! Sir Everard Home! The 

 specimen at the British Museum, from the herbarium of CHft'ort, 

 was gathered in Surinam in 1736. 



42. M. Mertensii, SchultesfL, Syst. Veg., vii., 1274; Hook. 

 Bot. Mag., t. 3186. — Bromelia Mertensii, Meyer Esseq., 144. — 

 Billbergia Mertensii, Miquel in Linnaea, xviii., 376. — Hoplopltytum 

 Mertensis, Beer, Brom., 134. — Hohenhergia Mertensii, Baker in Kef. 

 Bot., sub. t. 284. — Leaves with an entire dilated base three to four 



^i inches broad, and an ensiform lamina above two feet long, one inch 

 and a half to two inches broad at the middle, narrowed to the 

 l)oint, armed with close spreading horny spines one-twelfth of an 

 inch to one twenty-fourth of an inch long. Scaj)e shorter than 

 the leaves, the upper bract-leaves crowded, spreading, lanceolate, 

 entire, red, two to four inches long. Flowers in a dense cylindrical 

 bipinnate panicle six to twelve inches long, one inch and a quarter 

 to one inch and a half broad, with dense-flowered short ascending 

 erecto-patent spicate branches, the largest six- to eight-flowered. 

 Flower-bracts a quarter of an inch long, roundish, with a minute 

 cus^). Calyx with ovary under half an inch long ; sepals lanceolate, 

 a quarter of an inch long, obtuse, with a distinct mucro. Petals 

 rose-red, twice as long as the sepals. — Guiana, Parker ! Introduced 

 into cultivation in 1832. 



43. 2E. PANicuLiFERA, Grisch., Flor. Brit. West Ind., 592. — 

 Bromelia panicuU(jera, Swartz, Prodr. 56. — Hohenhergia paniculigera, 

 Baker in Ref. Bot., sub. t. 284, excl. syn. — B. tlujrsoidea, Willd. ; 



w' Schultes fil., Syst. Veg., vii., 1282.^Leaves with a dilated entu-e 

 base four to six inches long and broad, and a lorate lamina reaching 

 a couple of feet long, two to three inches broad at the middle, 

 obtuse with a cusp, margined by close horny hooked teeth one- 

 eighth of an inch to one-sixth of an inch long. Sca^^e one foot to 

 one foot and a half long, the lower bract-leaves adpressed, the upper 

 spreading, tinted red, three to four inches long and distinctly 



