July 26, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



65 



nent features of the vivid pictures which memory calls up 

 of the forest scenes in lovely Jamaica. 



The little negro villages in that island, groups of huts 

 which shrink with an old instinct from the white man's gaze 

 into the secluded glades and unsuspected nooks of the forest, 

 are surrounded by inviolable chevaux de /rise of Pinguins 

 (Bromelia pinguin), a large-growing species of the tribe. 

 This prickly bush, at first planted in line as a fence, rapidly 

 spreads, and covers a broad area when neglected and allowed 

 to follow its own will, as it usually is, at least on the 

 exterior ; a result perhaps not unwelcome, as it makes 

 approach to the sable homesteads more difficult. The fence 

 is absolutely impenetrable by man or beast ; nothing less 

 than an elephant or a rhinoceros would face it. When not 

 in flower or fruit you would scarcely distinguish it from the 

 cultivated Pine Apple, another species of the same genus ; 

 but it is more vigorous and formidable, the long channelled 

 leaves which arch out on every side from the centre being 

 beset along their edges with strong recurved spines, exceed- 

 ingly sharp, and capable of inflicting terrible wounds. In 

 March the Pinguin blossoms, and then it is a beautiful 

 object, the central leaves becoming of the most brilliant 

 glossy vermilion, and the thick erect spike of bloom of a 

 delicate pink white. This is replaced by a dense head of 

 hard woody capsules, not united into a succulent fruit as in 

 the Pine Apple, but separate, though closely packed. They 

 contain an intensely acid juice, which is pleasant to moisten 

 the lips or tongue, but is found to be acrid and caustic if 

 used too freely. 



On the rocky sides of gloomy gorges cut through the 

 ranges of limestone mountains, where a narrow and precar- 

 ious footpath often borders a rushing torrent, we see spring- 

 ing out of the clefts tufts of different species of the genus 

 Pitcairnia, for the most part resembling tussocks of coarse 

 grass, whose spiny blades arch and droop in elegant curves ; 

 while, if the season be spring, the centre of the crown is 

 adorned with spikes of long tubular blossoms, scarlet, or 

 pink, or white, according to the kind. 



Much more striking, however, are those genera which 

 are parasitic on trees, and these are eminently character- 

 istic of the scenery in the warmer regions of the western 

 hemisphere. They are found in all situations — on the tops 

 of the mountains, in the low sunburnt plains, by the shore 

 of the glittering sea, in the depths of the gloomy forest, in 

 the open savannah — wherever a tree will grow, there also is 

 a place for its fidus Acliates, the epiphyte Wild-pine. They 

 affect all sorts of trees, scarcely a tree being without one or 

 more, large ones often carrying hundreds : nor do they seem 

 to attach themselves to dying or diseased trees more than 

 to such as are in perfect health. One species, called Old- 

 man's Beard (Tillandsia usneoides), is very abundant. In 

 the great swamps of the southern Confederate States the 

 sombre evergreens, that almost shut out the light of day, 

 have their gaunt limbs densely clothed with ragged pendent 

 feBtoons of this grey parasite. It is small and slender indi- 

 vidually, but forms immense matted bunches, with wiry 

 flexible stems of indefinite length, intertwined and tangled 

 together. These are of a pale yellowish green hue, espe- 

 cially near the tips, where the young leaves appear, most of 

 the plant being covered with a hoary greyish sort of down. 

 The leaves sheath the stem, and. each other, at their bases, 

 and project so little as scarcely to affect the general filiform 

 appearance. So readily is it propagated, that a bunch torn 

 off and flung into the fork of a tree will immediately take 

 root and spread rapidly. The fibres, divested of their out- 

 side eoat, make excellent mattrasses, and are a good substi- 

 tute for horsehair, from which it is scarcely possible to dis- 

 tinguish them by the naked eye. I have-found it a capital 

 material to stuff bird skins. 



Other kinds, however, are far more attractive than this. 

 There is one, Tillandsia bulbosa, which seems to be spread 

 all over tropical America. It has a globose base, much like 

 the bulb of a Lily, and narrow, almost cylindrical, pointed 

 leaves, of which those near the blossom are of a fine crimson 

 hue. A spike of flowers, lengthened in form, and of crimson 

 and purple hues, with singular sheathing bracts, and pro- 

 jecting purple stamens, makes this a beautiful nlant in the 

 blooming season. Like the rest of this genus, it is a difficult 

 plant to reconcile to artificial habits. The Tillandsiae are 

 the most stubborn of the order. We import them, possibly 



flower them one season, and then they die, without propa- 

 gating their lovely but churlish forms. I have one or two 

 specimens of this kind, which I imported from the mouth of 

 the Amazon two years ago. I have planted them on the 

 top of a brick pier in an Orchid-house, where they continue, 

 looking healthy enough, but making no growth, and send- 

 ing out no offsets. Fortunately the majority of the tribe 

 are more persuasible than this, or I should not be singing 

 their praise in a horticultural journal. 



Different species of Vriesia and of JEchmea are found 

 abundantly in the mountain woods of Jamaica; the former 

 throwing out long, simple, or branching spikes of crimson 

 and yellow flowers, imbricated or sheathed in a singularly 

 compact manner; the latter gorgeous in scarlet and purple. 

 But the most imposing of all that I have seen there is the 

 noble Billbergia lingulata ; the leaves are long and shaped 

 like those of the Pine Apple, birt widened, and, as usual in 

 the order, sheathing each other at their bases ; and in July 

 they protrude a spike of large flowers of the richest crimson 

 hue and of a polished surface. The sheathing bases of the 

 coriaceous leaves of most of the epiphyte species form natural 

 reservoirs for water : the rains and dews accumulate here in 

 considerable quantity, and form a resource for thousands of 

 birds, and even for man himself, in the season of drought ; 

 while the capacious reservoirs afford retreats, always cool and 

 moist, for such reptiles as respire through their skin. The 

 various species of tree-toads, often of large size and fantasti- 

 cally brilliant colours, habitually dwell in them, and sitting in 

 their comfortable baths give utterance to such deep snores, 

 such gurgling throttling groans, and such shrill piercing 

 shrieks, as startle the benighted traveller in the solemn 

 forest with sudden thoughts of murder and mortal agony. 



Such were my associations with the Bromeliaeeee when in 

 the spring of 1862 I began to grow them. I had just erected 

 a small house for the cultivation of a group in some respects, 

 as to habitat, habit, and singular gorgeousness of beauty, 

 kindred in character — viz., the Orchidea?; and I felt a strong 

 desire to renew acquaintance with my old friends the Wild- 

 pines. 



In Carter's catalogue of seeds for the season, I had noticed ' 

 Billbergia zebrina, which I knew to be a fine Brazilian 

 species ; and, though I was not very sanguine of success in 

 raising Bromeliacea? from seed, I sent for a packet, and sowed 

 it at once. This was the 8th of March, and on the 25th the 

 tiny plants, like little points of grass, were peeping. They 

 grew on, the sheathing character of the leaves manifest 

 from the first, and soon they required to be prieked-out. 

 As we commonly find with seedlings that some much exceed 

 their fellows of the same batch in size and vigour, so here 

 one Billbergia soon outstripped all its compeers, and grew 

 apace. I shifted it as it needed, draining the pots well, and 

 giving a greater proportion of loam as it increased in' size. 

 From November to March it was allowed to rest, and scarcely 

 received any water. By the time it was two years old, that 

 is to say, in the present spring, it had attained noble propor- 

 tions. It was now in an eight-inch pot, the main crown 

 about 2 feet high, but the longest leaves were full 3 feet 

 measured along the curve, and 3 inches in diameter. For 

 more than half their length they take a semi-cylindrical 

 form, sheathing each other below, and thus giving to the 

 body of the plant the appearance of a deep but narrow vase. 

 Water always stands in this cup, and in the hollow bases of 

 the individual leaves. These organs are spinous at the edge, 

 but not strongly so ; their colour is a glaucous or greyish 

 green, as if slightly mealy, and on their exterior they> are 

 marked at irregular intervals with undefined transverse 

 bands of white, whence the name of zebrina. Three vigorous 

 offsets sprang out from the base, augmenting the stateliness 

 of the plant, like three princely daughters supporting their 

 queenly mother. 



We had been looking for the flower-spike to appear, and 

 had from time to time peered curiously into the dark depths 

 of the vase-like hollow, but without success, till suddenly on 

 the 10th of June, a thick cone came up from the interior, 

 and showed its apex above the united leaves. It now- 

 lengthened with wonderful rapidity, pushing up in the form 

 of a great pointed oval of 7 or 8 inches in length, and 

 all over of the richest and purest rose colour. When this 

 was pretty well visible above the tube, standing erect, it 

 suddenly began to lean from the perpendicular and on being 



