GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 
1 5 9 
210. Tillandsia inanis. A stove epiphyte belonging to Bromeliads, with scurfy, tin, lv UhI 
leaves, and violet flowers issuing from crimson bracts. Native of the province of Buenos Ayn s. 
(Fig. 103, apiece of the inflorescence; 104, a diminished figure of the plant) 
Commodore Sulivan, C.B., who brought it to this country in 1841, on his return from the command of the South 
American station, presented it to Sir Charles Lemon, Bart., M.P., with whom it flowered in March, 1841 It i* a 
native of the interior provinces of Buenos Ayres, high up the Parana, and is stated to be greatly priaed then for it« 
delicious perfume, although at no period could Mr. Booth discover that it possessed any fragrance ; mi it is |>n>hal>)e 
that the statement referred to T. xiphiifolia,— a very different species. Like the rest of its tribe, it re.piin s the constant 
heat of a warm damp stove, and similar treatment to that which is usually given to epiphytal Orchids. It Uinv< ■ vcr 
well when attached to a branch of any soft-wooded tree, and suspended from the roof of the stove. In winter it must ba 
kept dry, but during the rest of the year it can scarcely have too much water. Mr. Booth iescribea the recent plant 
thus : — 
" Roots numerous, round and slender, deep brown, partly adhering to the brandies of trees, or spreading horiaaataliy, 
as if to draw nourishment from the air. Leaves broad at the base, closely imbricated, so as to have a sort of bulbous 
appearance ; but otherwise flexuose and recurved, narrow, much longer than the scape, spreading and twiatc!. with tin 
edges so much incurved as to leave only a deep groove from one end to the other. They vary fnmi 9 inches to a foot in 
length, and are of a deep green, closely covered with brownish red blotches 
and speckled with minute white scurfs. The M)<' rises from the ntrc of 
the leaves, and is about 6 inches high, round at the base, ami e >\ered with 
several sheathing leaves, which cleanly < mbraea 
it. Near the top, it enlarges, and become* 
two-sided, with aaadcrately large old- .no- 
minate sheathing, imbricated bracts, of a bril- 
liant red, tinged with brownish green at the 
base. The flowers, which appeal b>be only 
two in number, issue from underneath the third 
and fourth bract from the top. They are erect, 
of a purplish lilac colour, and rather more than 
an inch long. Sepals! Petals three, united at 
the base, but so arranged, from being B -lute 
as to form a kind of tube, very sHghtly . nrved 
at the point. Filaments of th- same purplish 
colour as the petals, comparat iy broad and 
thin, and projecting about a quarter of an inch 
beyond the tube Style the same length as 
the filaments, but round, and of a pale Mb r, 
excepting at the extremity, which is a g*aav 
ish yellow, and ."5-lobcd." 
This is nearly related to the plant -origin- 
ally named T. buOm by Sir W. Hooker, in 
his « Exotic Flora," 1. 1 73, from a ,>oor specimen 
obtained from Trinidad. Hut we can scar, y 
reeard it as the same species, any more than 
a very handsome phot, •» »«»« W™*>»8 
crimson bracts, obtained from Jamaica by S.r 
VV. Hooker, and figured in the « Bo.aruc.1 
Magazine," t 4288, under the name of T. 
llm, variety f** ™ere -»-»*•£ 
several species of dlandsia V~~*J* 
peculiarity of liaving the bases of the enlarge* 
Ct collected into a kind of *»%*«*" 
tt -ise differing as much among each other ss 
IZ1 of the same genus ge,, rally do - 
^ are beautim. things, and very hke. 
lach our gardens, we take *. present oppor- 
^peculiarities to reside. M»«« !*«% 
F bracts green and fertile, wi* some 
conceive 
i n tunuv oi pointing uul m "»—- ,. t j ie bracts green »■.« ■*• — ~» 
1 " there is the original T. hulbosa, whose .pike has a ^^ ^ ^^ ^ m M 
. Next it stands our T. inanis, with a perfectly s.mplf f ; ^ meni](m ed f with the upper 
tendency to branch 
flowerless, except the two uppermost. Another is the suj 
l £ZZ£, »r t. W~ *-* 
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