NO. I BROMELIACEAE OF BRAZIL — SMITH IQ 



12 mm. long, connate for i mm., subelliptic, strongly asymmetric, the 

 terminal mucro i mm. long ; petals about 2 cm. long, each bearing 2 

 oblong obtuse entire scales near the base ; ovary subcylindric, becom- 

 ing ellipsoid, epigynous tube inf undibulif orm ; placentae extending 

 almost the whole length of the cell, ovules caudate. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 2059452, collected in Areia, State 

 of Paraiba, Brazil, Sept. 15, 1944, by Jaime M. Vasconcellos. Duplicate in the 

 Instituto de Botanica, Sao Paulo (No. 52358). 



The collector records the flower as yellow, but it is not clear 

 whether he means to include the petals or not. In the dried material 

 they appear much darker than the sepals. 



Aechmea triangularis L. B. Smith, sp. nov. Figure 106 



A Ae. hromeliifolia (Rudge) Baker, cui affinis, laminis foliorum 

 caudato-acuminatis, bracteis florigeris nullo modo retusis, petalis 

 purpureis differt. 



Flowering plant to 37 cm. high ; leaves to 5 dm. long, covered with 

 a membrane of pale appressed scales, the sheaths elliptic, 18 cm. 

 long, 9 cm. wide, near the apex densely serrate with dark spreading 

 spines 5 mm. long, green with small red spots, elsewhere entire and 

 dark brown, the blades narrowly triangular, caudate-acuminate, 4 cm. 

 wide at base, laxly serrate with spreading or antrorse teeth; scape 

 erect, 3 mm. in diameter, white-flocculose ; scape-bracts broadly ellip- 

 tic, thin, rose-lake ( ! Foster) , inconspicuously lepidote with white 

 appressed scales, the lower ones much shorter than the internodes, 

 caudate, serrate near the apex, the upper ones much longer than the 

 internodes, divergent, serrate throughout; inflorescence simple, stro- 

 bilate, cylindric, 6 cm. long, 2 cm. in diameter exclusive of the petals, 

 densely lepidote with white subappressed scales ; floral bracts orbicu- 

 lar, apiculate, 8 mm, long, exceeding the ovary, coriaceous, bicarinate ; 

 sepals 6 mm. long, connate for 2 mm., the free lobes asymmetric, 

 subquadrate, retuse, unarmed; petals 12 mm. long, lavender to purple 

 turning black the second day (! Foster), bearing 2 fimbriate scales 

 high on the claw, blade broadly elliptic, obtuse; epigynous tube al- 

 most none, placentae apical, ovules caudate. 



Type in the Gray Herbarium, collected at Santa Teresa, State of Espirito 

 Santo, Brazil, Aug. 7, 1940 (bloomed in cultivation Apr. 22, 1941), by M. B. 

 & R. Foster (No. 829). 



Aechmea triticina var. capensis L. B. Smith, var. nov. 



A var. triticina scapi bracteis supremis serrulatis, bracteis florigeris 

 sepala superantibus differt. 



