32 HANDBOOK OF BROMELIACE.E. 



branches lax-flowered, reaching a foot in length, the lower com- 

 pound ; flower-bracts ascending, oblong, strongly ribbed, an inch 

 long. Calyx with ovary li in. long ; sepals lanceolate, 2-3 times 

 the length of the ovary, conspicuously mucronate. 



Hab. Central Brazil ; Bahia, Blanchet 2274 1 (Herb. Mus. Brit). 



7. S. Blanchetii Baker. — Leaves lorate, rigid, naked, li in. 

 broad, deltoid at the apex ; marginal teeth minute. Inflorescence 

 a lax panicle 1^ ft. long ; branches lax-flowered, the end one a foot 

 long, the side one shorter, arcuate ; flower-bracts ovate, acute, 

 erecto-patent, an inch long. Calyx with ovary an inch long ; 

 sepals lanceolate, f in. long, free to the base, little twisted, dis- 

 tinctly cuspidate. Petals not seen. 



Hab. Central Brazil ; Bahia, Blanchet ! (Herb. Mus. Brit.). Inflorescence 

 like that of Tillandsia Jiexuosa. 



8. S. PODANTHA Baker. — Leaves lorate from an oblong base 

 5-G in. long, 4-4|^ in. broad ; blade 2 ft. long, 2 in. broad, mode- 

 rately firm in texture, nearly glabrous ; teeth close, brown, the 

 lower ^ in. long. Peduncle stout ; upper bract-leaves large, red, 

 scariose. Inflorescence a lax, tripinnate panicle 2 ft. long ; branches 

 3-5 in. long, only a few of the lowest compound ; branch-bracts 

 small, ovate ; pedicels erecto-patent, ^-| in. long, with a minute 

 basal bract. Calyx with ovary f in. long ; sepals ovate, minutely 

 mucronate, shorter than the ovary. Petal-blade narrow, f in. long. 



Hab. South Brazil Glaziou, 16417 1 



17. iEcHMEA Buiz tC- Pavon. 



Sepals lanceolate or ovate, free down to the top of the ovary, 

 usually furnished with a spiny mucro. Petals free, lingulate, 

 scaled at the base, two or three times the length of the sepals. 

 Stamens shorter than the petals, 3 epigynous, 3 attached to the base 

 of the petals ; filaments filiform ; anthers linear-oblong, dorsifixed. 

 Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; ovules mucronate, usually many, rarely 

 only 3-4 in a cell ; style filiform ; stigmas flattened at the tip and 

 spirally twisted. Fruit subcoriaceous or baccate. Seeds minute. 

 Leaves densely rosulate, usually lorate, spine-margined. Leaves of 

 the peduncle scariose, often bright red. Inflorescence very various, 

 spicate, racemose or panicled, the ultimate branchlets multifarious 

 or distichous, each flower usually subtended by a coriaceous spine- 

 tipped bract. Flowers smaller than in BlUhcnjia, very various in 

 colour. 



Subgenus 1. ^Echmea proper. — Inflorescence a panicle with 

 multifarious branches. Petals 3-4 times the length of the mucro- 

 nate sepals, twisting as they fade Sp. 1-2. 



Subgenus 2. Hohenbergia Schultes fil. {Hojdoplujtnni Beer). — 

 Inflorescence a panicle with multifarious not strobihform branches. 

 Ovary terete. Flower-bracts and sepals coriaceous, mucronate. 

 Petals shortly protruded. 



