NO. I BROMELIACEAE OF BRAZIL — SMITH 195 



15. Mucro of the floral bracts 3-5 mm. long; inflorescence fertile 

 throughout; sepals 3-10 mm. long. 

 16. Spikes very dense ; flowers few, subfasciculate ; sepals mucronate. 

 (Fig. 97.) 19. Ae. mertensii 



16. Spikes lax; flowers obviously in two ranks; sepals obscurely 



mucronulate or unarmed 20. Ae. huebneri 



15. Mucro of the floral bracts to 15 mm. long; inflorescence partly 

 sterile; sepals 16-21 mm. long. 



17. Branches at the base of the inflorescence reduced to fascicles of 



sterile setiform bracts; inflorescence pale-flocculose, soon 



glabrous 21. Ae. setigera 



17. Branches all bearing a few flowers at their bases, but the upper 

 branches with sterile apices; inflorescence densely ferruginous- 



flocculose 22. Ae. kuntzeana 



14. The floral bracts narrower, not completely enclosing the base of the 

 ovary. 

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

 nearly or quite as long as their free lobes; scape-bracts very 

 thin, soon disintegrating. 

 19. Inflorescence digitate; spikes few, strobilate, many-flowered. 



66. Ae. calyculata 

 19. Inflorescence paniculate; spikes many, lax, few-flowered. 

 20. Petals white; leaves frequently banded; flowers 15 mm. long; 

 sepals 3.5 mm. long without the 3 mm. mucro. 



42. Ae. Candida 

 20. Petals colored. 

 21. The petals yellow; inflorescence densely white-flocculose ; 

 branches slender, geniculate; scape-bracts mostly imbri- 

 cate ; flowers 20-25 mm. long 43. Ae. caudata 



21. The petals blue. 

 22. Inflorescence persistently white-flocculose ; branches nearly 

 or quite straight; flowers 20 mm. long. 



44. Ae. coelestis 

 22, Inflorescence soon glabrous; branches geniculate. 

 23, Flowers 17 mm. long; scape-bracts mostly imbricate. 



45. Ae. organensis 

 23. Flowers 25 mm. long; scape-bracts mostly remote. 



46. Ae. gracilis 

 18. Sepals nearly or quite free, their mucros relatively short. 

 24. Alucros of the sepals evident without a lens. To p. 197. 

 25. Flowers imbricate, all touching each other ; inflorescence very 

 dense ; spikes densely few-flowered ; sepals 6 mm. long with- 

 out the 4 mm. mucro 23. Ae. phanerophlebia 



25, Flowers lax, not touching or only the immature ones. 



26. Sepals 12-23 mm. long (unrecorded in Ae. megalanlha which 

 has petals 35 mm. long) ; inflorescence amply 3-4-pinnate. 

 27. Floral bracts 10-12 mm. long, exceeding the ovary. 



24. Ae. eurycorymbus 

 27. Floral bracts much shorter than the ovary. 

 28. The floral bracts setiform from a small triangular base, 

 2-3 mm. long; inflorescence tomentose-lepidote. 



