10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 26 



Research in Brazil has been principally taxonomic as can be seen by 

 the references to F. C. Camargo in the text. 



The caroa, Neoglasiovia variegata, also produces an excellent fiber 

 which is much used within Brazil. The species is native in the arid 

 northeast where it grows without cultivation on areas too poor for 

 most other commercial crops. For a detailed study see "O Caroa" by 

 Lauro P. Xavier.^ 



Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, apparently does not grow so 

 prolifically anywhere in Brazil as it does in the southeastern United 

 States, nor does it appear to have been systematically exploited for 

 filler material for cushions and mattresses as has been done here. 



HORTICULTURE 



Interest in bromeliads as ornamentals is much more recent than 

 in the pineapple, yet it dates back well over a century. In England 

 the cultivation of the still popular Brazilian BiUhergia pyramidalis 

 was noted under another name in the Botanical Magazine in 1815 

 and accompanied by a colored plate. BiUhergia amoena appeared 

 similarly in Loddiges Botanical Cabinet in 1818 and B. sebrina in 

 1827, and Aechmea fasciata in the Botanical Register in 1828. The 

 cultivation of Bromelia antiacantha was noted by Bertolini in Italy in 

 1824. By 1857 n^any species were in cultivation in Berlin as evi- 

 denced by the numerous citations in Beer's "Die Familie der Brome- 

 liaceen," the first comprehensive treatment of the group. Between 

 1865 and 1885 there was great interest in the family in Belgium 

 centering around Liege where Edouard Morren published many new 

 species with elaborate colored plates in his Belgique Horticole. Also 

 notable for work in horticultural species in the last half of the 19th 

 century were C. Koch in Germany, Regel in Russia, Antoine in 

 Austria, and Lemaire, Linden, and Andre in France. It is note- 

 worthy that the great majority of ornamental species described in 

 this early period as well as later were of Brazilian origin. The more 

 recent monographers. Baker and Mez, concerned themselves less with 

 horticulture, but fell heirs to the work left unfinished by Morren's 

 untimely death, and published a considerable number of ornamentals 

 nonetheless. 



Horticultural activity in bromeliads developed late in the United 

 States, although, according to Mulford Foster (Plant Life 1:71. 



s Ministerio da Agricultura, Departamento Nacional da Produgao Vegetal, 

 Divisao de Fomento da Produgao Vegetal, Secgao de Fomento Agricola, 

 Paraiba. 



