374 BROMELIACEAE. 
Family 14. BROMELIACEAE J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. 1: 122. 1805. 
PINE-APPLE FAMILY. 
Epiphytic herbs (some tropical species terrestrial), mostly scurfy, with 
elongated entire or spinulose-serrate leaves. Flowers spiked, panicled, or soli- 
tary, regular and perfect, usually conspicuously bracted. Perianth of 3 thin 
distinct or somewhat united sepals, and 3 clawed distinct or united petals. 
Stamens 6, usually inserted on the base of the corolla. Ovary inferior or 
superior, 3-celled; ovules numerous in each cell, anatropous; style short or 
elongated; stigmas 3. Capsule 3-valved in our species. Seeds numerous, the 
testa membranous. Embryo small, situated at the base of the copious endosperm. 
About 35 genera and goo species, all natives of tropical and subtropical America. 
1. TILLANDSIA L,. Sp. Pl. 286. 1753. 
Epiphytic plants of various habit, with narrow entire leaves and white, yellow or purple 
flowers. Sepals distinct and separate or very nearlyso. Petals distinct. Stamens hypogy- 
nous or the three inner ones inserted on the bases of the petals; filaments filiform; anthers 
linear or linear-oblong. Ovary superior; style subulate; stigmas short. Capsule septicidally 
3-valved. Seeds erect, narrow, supported on a long funiculus which splits up into fine threads. 
[Dedicated to Elias Tillands, Swedish (?) botanist of the seventeenth century. ] 
About 350 species, natives of warm and tropical America. Besides the following some 9 others 
occur in the southern United States. 
o ZB 1. Tillandsia usneoides LL. 
| ACE a Moss. Florida Moss. (Fig. Aa: 
NN 
VV 
ww 
Lu IS SS Stems very slender, thread-like, flexuous, 
~——— hanging clustered in festoons from the branches 
Ni of trees, 3°-20° long, gray and, like the filiform 
Oo 
Renealmia usneotdes ¥,. Sp. Pl. 287. 1753. 
Tillandsia usneotdes I,. Sp. Pl. Ed. 2, 411. 1762. 
leaves, densely silvery-scurfy all over. Leaves 
scattered, 1/-3’ long, scarcely 4’ thick, their 
bases somewhat dilated; flowers sessile and 
solitary or rarely 2 together in the axils of the 
leaves; sepals about 3’’ long, pale green; petals 
yellow, the blade about 2’’ long; stamens about 
as long as the calyx; capsule linear, 9//-15/’ 
long, at length splitting into 3 linear valves. 
7S 
5 
Family 15. COMMELINACEAE Reichenb. Consp. 57. 1828. 
SPIDERWORT FAMILY. 
Perennial or annual leafy herbs with regular or irregular perfect and often 
showy flowers in cymes, commonly subtended by spathe-like or leafy bracts. 
Perianth of 2 series; a calyx of mostly 3 persistent sepals, and a corolla of 
mostly 3 membranous and deciduous or fugacious petals. Stamens mostly 6, 
hypogynous, rarely fewer, all similar and perfect or 2 or 3 of them different 
from the others and sterile; filaments filiform or somewhat flattened; anthers 
2-celled, mostly longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary superior, sessile or very 
nearly so, 2—3-celled; ovules 1 or several in each cell, anatropous or half ana- 
tropous; style simple; stigmas terminal, entire or obscurely 2-3-lobed. Seeds 
solitary or several in each cell of the capsule. Capsule 2—-3-celled, loculicidally 
2-3-valved. Embryo small. Endosperm copious. 
Eastern Virginia to Florida, west to Texas and 
Mexico. Very widely distributed in tropical 
America. 
About 25 genera and 350 species, mostly natives of tropical regions a ew in the temperate zones. 
Perfect stamens 3, rarely 2; petals unequal; bracts spathe-like. 1. Commelina. 
Perfect stamens 6, rarely 5; petals all alike; bracts leafy. 2. Tradescantia. 
