66 THE LONG-LEAVED PUYA. 
not flower; but in all other respects it is different. The leaves are much longer, linear, and are 
often as much as a foot and a half in extent, curving down around the plant, and even doubling by 
their own weight. The spike consists of very long straggling flowers, by no means collected into a 
capitate spike. The corolla of P. heterophylla is rose, this is as red as the richest coral; one 
might say that the scarlet of the bracts of P. Altensteinii is here transferred to the corolla, which 
in that species is dazzling white. The form of the nectarial scales is also different in P. heterophylla.” 
It is uncertain when this plant came into our gardens; all that was known about it to Prof. 
Morren was that it was introduced into Belgium in 1843 by government collectors of plants, and he 
. thought it highly probable that it came from Mexico. But then he adds, that it is also very 
probable that it came from either La Guayra or the Caraccas, where Messrs. Funck, Linden, and 
others had been employed. 
It is strictly a stove species, demanding the treatment of Tillandsias and similar plants. It is 
probable that it would look best if grown like an epiphytal Orchid, which would allow the long 
narrow leaves to hang down without risk of being bruised or broken. 
