NO. I BROMELIACEAE OF BRAZIL — SMITH I99 



S. Ovary terete; lower scape-bracts serrulate; sepals 4.5 mm. long; 



floral bracts minute 13. Ae. victoriana 



3. Inflorescence dense, few-flowered, its axis completely hidden by the 

 flowers and floral bracts ; sepals 8-9 mm. long. 

 6. Sepals symmetric ; inflorescence subcorymbiform ; scape about equaling 



the leaf-sheaths 14. Ae. mitis 



6. Sepals strongly asymmetric ; inflorescence distinctly spicate ; scape 



elongate 62. Ae. turbinocalyx 



2. Sepals mucronate or pungent. 

 7. Scape-bracts massed below the inflorescence, spreading, ample, thin, red, 



persistent. (Fig. 103.) 63. Ae. nudicaulis 



7. Scape-bracts about equally distributed along the scape. 

 8. Inflorescence lax, its axis clearly visible; sepals usually connate for 

 about half their length; scape-bracts narrow, thin, fragile and soon 

 lost. (Fig. 100.) 

 9. Petals white. 



ID, Leaves broadly rounded and apiculate, sometimes banded; sepals 

 3.5 mm. long without the 3 mm. mucro. . . 42. Ae. Candida 



10. Leaves abruptly acuminate, densely and evenly cinereous-lepidote 



beneath; sepals 4 mm. long without the i mm. mucro. (Fig. 



100.) 47. Ae. bicolor 



9. Petals colored. 



11. The petals yellow.^ 



12. Flowers subverticillate ; leaves often white-banded beneath; 

 sepals 7 mm. long including the 3 mm. mucro. 



48. Ae. blumenavii 

 12. Flowers evenly distributed along the axis or more lax toward 

 the base, but not at all verticillate ; leaves not banded ; sepals 

 7-1 1 mm. long including the long mucro. 

 13. Sepals connate for one-third to half their length. 



43. Ae. caudata 

 13. Sepals short-connate; anthesis beginning in the middle of 



the inflorescence 49. Ae. kertesziae 



II. The petals blue. 

 14. Inflorescence very lax, few-flowered, soon glabrous; flowers 

 25 mm. long ; scape-bracts mostly remote. . . 46. Ae. gracilis 

 14. Inflorescence with its axis slightly exposed, many-flowered. 

 15. Flowers 20 mm. long; inflorescence stout; floral bracts soft. 



64. Ae. cylindrata 

 15. Flowers 15 mm. long; inflorescence slender; floral bracts 



pungent 50. Ae. gamosepala 



8. Inflorescence dense, all or nearly all of its axis concealed by the 

 flowers and floral bracts. 

 16. Floral bracts and sepals dark castaneous, coriaceous; flowers 

 strongly complanate ; sepals 34 mm. long, wholly covered by the 



bracts; inflorescence 14 cm. in diameter 86. Ae. conifera 



16. Floral bracts and sepals stramineous or brightly colored; flowers 

 terete or nearly so; sepals not wholly concealed by the bracts. 



* This group of species centering in Santa Catarina is practically impossible to classify 

 iw on the basis of herbarium material. Its further elaboration awaits the conclusion of 



now 



field studies by Reitz 



