NO. I BROMELIACEAE OF BRAZIL — SMITH 193 



3. Sepals mucronate or mucronulate, or if unarmed then the flowers 

 distichous. 

 4. Inflorescence not cyathiform. 



5. Floral bracts neither decurrent nor forming pouches around the 

 flowers, distichous or polystichous. 



6. Sepals nearly or quite free Subgenus Aechmea 



(Species 15-40) 

 6. Sepals connate for one-third to half their length, their mucros 



about as long as their free lobes Subgenus Hoplophytum 



(Species 41-50) 

 5. Floral bracts decurrent and forming pouches around the flowers, 



distichous Subgenus Platyaechmea 



(Species 51-54) 

 4. Inflorescence cyathiform, its bracts or the inner leaves of the rosette 

 forming an involucre about it, compound or simple. 



Subgenus Ortgiesia 



(Species 55-60) 



2. Inflorescence simple, strobilate with the flowers in many ranks, scapose, 



not at all cyathiform (the bracts massed below the inflorescence in some 



species but spreading and not forming an involucre). 



7. Sepals mucronate or mucronulate; petal-appendages basal or higher. 



Subgenus Pothuava 



(Species 61-73) 



7. Sepals unarmed ; appendages usually inserted well above the base of the 



petal Subgenus Macrochordium 



(Species 74-80) 

 I. Petal-appendages rudimentary or reduced; inflorescence simple or rarely 

 digitate, perennial ; flowers strobilate, in many ranks ; floral bracts thick 

 and more or less ligneous in the Brazilian species. 



Subgenus Purpurospadix 

 (Species 81-92) 



The above definitions of subgenera largely follow Mez's system, 

 but make allowance for a species with a simple inflorescence, Aechmea 

 contracta, in subgenus Platyaechmea. The subgenus Ortgiesia is 

 retained pending further study, although the range of sepal fusion 

 indicates that it might be a more natural disposition of the species 

 to distribute them among the other subgenera. The natural division 

 of the genus is now so involved that the following more or less 

 artificial key is more practical for the purposes of identification. 



CONSPECTUS OF STJBKEYS 



I. Inflorescence compound Subkey A 



I. Inflorescence simple. 



2. Floral bracts serrulate Subkey B 



2. Floral bracts entire. 



3. The floral bracts flat, usually thin, nerved Subkey C 



3. The floral bracts navicular, enfolding at least the base of the flower. 



Subkey D 



