NO. I BROMELIACEAE OF BRAZIL — SMITH IO3 



21. Sepals barely exceeding the floral bracts; branches 

 eprophyllate 43. V. penduliflora 



21. Sepals about twice as long as the floral bracts ; branches 



prophyllate. (Fig. 40.) 44, V. segadas-viannae 



20. Branches many-flowered, elongate, rather stout; sepals 

 28-34 "i"i- long. 



22. Floral bracts 3 to 4 times as long as the internodes, re- 



maining imbricate, obtusely carinate; leaf -blades con- 



colorous 45. V. hydrophora 



22. Floral bracts scarcely more than twice as long as the 

 internodes, faintly or not at all carinate; leaf-blades 

 marked with dark green cross-lines. 



46. V. pastuchofHana 

 19. Flowers upwardly secund; leaves acuminate; sepals 35-40 



mm. long. 

 23. Rhachis strongly geniculate; only a few flowers secund. 



99. V. brasiliana 

 23. Rhachis merely flexuous; all the flowers secund. 



100. V. imperialis 



SUBKEY D 



I. Leaf-blades narrowly triangular, acuminate; floral bracts sparsely lepidote. 

 2. Floral bracts carinate, 30 mm. long, distinctly exceeding the sepals. 



47. V. biguassuensis 



2. Floral bracts not carinate, 25 mm. long, about equaling the sepals. 



48. V. triangularis 

 I. Leaf-blades ligulate, abruptly acute or rounded and apiculate. 



3. Sepals (or at least the lowest ones) exceeding the very broad floral 



bracts, 34-40 mm. long. 

 4. Inflorescence many-flowered, to 27 cm. long, exceeding the leaves ; floral 

 bracts scarcely or not at all carinate 49. V. gradata 



4. Inflorescence few-flowered, 6-12 cm. long, about equaling the leaves ; 



floral bracts sharply carinate 50. V. modesta 



3. Sepals equaling the floral bracts or shorter. 



5. Inflorescence lax ; flowers erect and appressed to the rhachis ; floral bracts 



to 45 mm. long, scarcely twice as long as the internodes, equaling the 



sepals, obtuse, ecarinate, strongly nerved 51. V. pauciflora 



5. Inflorescence dense or subdense; flowers imbricate; floral bracts much 

 more than twice as long as the internodes. 

 6. Floral bracts dark castaneous except near the apex, slightly and ob- 

 tusely carinate, 3-8 cm. long 39. V. longicaulis 



6. Floral bracts pale or brightly colored, green, yellow, or red. 

 7. Apical half of the floral bract spreading and not imbricate even 

 before anthesis ; keel of the floral bracts straight or concave 

 toward the base, convex toward the apex; inflorescence broadly 

 rounded at the apex. (Fig. 41.) 

 8. Floral bracts acuminate, 60-70 mm. long. 



52. V. erythrodactylon 

 8. Floral bracts broadly acute, about 45 mm. long. 



53. V. heliconioides 



