196 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 26 



29. Inflorescence dense except toward the base, its axes 

 stout ; primary bracts broad ; sepals 23 ram. long. 



25. Ae. tomentosa 



29, Inflorescence lax, its axes slender; primary bracts 



narrow; sepals 12 mm. long. (Fig. 98.) 



26. Ae. stelligera 

 28. The floral bracts broad. 



30. Petals 23 mm. long; floral bracts 5-8 mm. long. 



27. Ae. werdermannii 

 30. Petals 35 mm. long; floral bracts 1-3 mm. long. 



28. Ae. megalantha 

 26. Sepals 4-10 mm. long. 

 31. Spikes 9-20 cm. long; rhachis straight; flowers in more 



than two ranks. (Fig. 99.) 29. Ae. lingulata 



31. Spikes short; rhachis often flexuous or geniculate. 

 32. Leaf-blades narrowly triangular ; ovary trigonous ; sepals 



6 mm. long 30. Ae. purpureo-rosea 



32. Leaf-blades ligulate. 

 33. Floral bracts navicular; rhachis strongly quadrangu- 

 lar; inflorescence bipinnate; sepals 4-5 mm. long. 



31. Ae. angustifolia 

 33. Floral bracts nearly flat; rhachis subterete or irregu- 

 larly angled with the flowers in more than two ranks. 

 34. Mucro of the floral bract longer than the incon- 

 spicuous base; trichomes of the inflorescence 



linear ; sepals 5 mm. long 32. Ae. sprucei 



34. Mucro of the floral bract no longer than the sub- 

 orbicular base. 

 35. Ovaries 15 mm. long, minutely verrucose; inflores- 

 cence subdense, ovoid, 17 cm. long; floral bracts 

 4 mm. long ; sepals 9-10 mm. long. 



33. Ae. melinonii 

 35. Ovaries not more than 10 mm. long, even; in- 

 florescence lax at least at the base ; floral bracts 

 from more than half as long to exceeding the 

 ovaries; sepals 5-8 mm. long. 

 36. Petals nearly 3 times as long as the sepals, blue ; 

 sepals 8 mm. long; inflorescence narrowly 

 ovoid, 17 cm. long; lower primary bracts 

 about equaling the branches. 



34. Ae. azurea 

 36. Petals only about twice as long as the sepals, 

 yellow (imcertain in Ae. tocanthta) ; sepals 

 5 mm. long without the mucro; inflorescence 

 narrowly cylindric or laxly digitate or pin- 

 nate from several long cylindric branches 

 that greatly exceed the primary bracts. 

 37. Spike-rhachis geniculate; inflorescence cob- 

 webby, becoming glabrous. 



35. Ae. ramosa 



