JECHMEA. 41 



long ; flower-bracts coriaceous, with a large black mucro. Calyx 

 pale yellowish green, floccose. Corolla pale rose. 

 Hab. Banks of Rio Negro, Martius. 



26. M. Mertensii Schultes fil. Syst. Veg. vii. 1274; Hook, in 

 Bot. Mag. t. 3186. Bromelia Mertensii Meyer, Esseq. 144. Bill- 

 hergia Mertensii Miquel in Linnaea xviii. 376. Hoplophytum Mer- 

 tensis Beer, Brom. 134. Hohenbergia Mertensii Baker in Eef. Bot. 

 t. 284. — Leaves 12-20 in a utricular rosette, lanceolate from an 

 ovate base, above 2 ft. long, 1-|~2 in. broad at the middle, glabrous 

 on the face, obscurely lepidote on the back, narrowed gradually to 

 the point, the marginal teeth small, brown, spreading.. Peduncle 

 1-1| ft. long ; upper bract-leaves large, spreading, lanceolate, 

 bright red. Inflorescence a dense cylindrical panicle 6-9 in. long, 

 1^-1|- in. diam. ; branches short, erecto-patent, densely spicate ; 

 flower-bracts ^ in. long, orbicular, green, mucronate. Calyx with 

 ovary nearly ^ in. long ; sepals ovate-lanceolate, mucronate. 

 Petals rose-pink, twice as long as the sepals. 



Hab. Dutch and British Guiana ; first described by G. F. Meyer, in 1818. 

 Introduced into cultivation in 1832, by Mr. C. S. Parker, to the Liverpool 

 Botanic Garden. 



27. M. ccELESTis E. Morren in Flores des Serres, t. 2146. 

 Hohenbergia ccelestis Baker in Eef. Bot. t. 284. Hoplophytum coelestis 

 K. Koch; E. Morren, Belg. Hort. 1862, 97, with figure (M.D.).— 

 Leaves 12-20 in a utricular rosette, lorate from an ovate base, 

 l-lf ft. long, lJ-2 in. broad at the middle, moderately firm in 

 texture, plain green on the face, obscurely transversely banded on 

 the back, deltoid-cuspidate at the tip, the marginal teeth minute. 

 Peduncle l-lf ft. long, floccose ; upper bract-leaves adpressed, 

 bright red. Inflorescence a dense bipinnate panicle 4-6 in. long, 

 3 in. broad, with a stout straight floccose rachis ; branches 

 numerous, patent, spicate, the lowest 4-6-flowered ; flower-bracts 

 ovate-acuminate, J in. long. Calyx with ovary white, |— ^ in. long ; 

 sepals ovate with a large mucro. Petals blue, shortly protruded. 

 Berry black. 



Hab. Brazil. Described from a plant flowered by Mr. Wilson Saunders at 

 Keigate, about 1870 ; and one at Kew in 1888, received under the name of 

 Billbergia Celeriana. It may be identical with Billbergia paniculata Mart. ; 

 Schultes fil. Syst. Veg. vii. 1268, a native of the Upper Amazon. 



28. M. CANDIDA E. Morren, inedit. (M.D.).— Leaves 10-12 in a 

 utricular rosette, lorate from an ovate base, 12-15 in. long, 1-| in. 

 broad, plain green on the face, distinctly white-lepidote on the 

 back, rounded to a cusp at the tip, the marginal teeth minute. 

 Peduncle slender, floccose, under a foot long ; bract-leaves small, 

 adpressed, lanceolate, pale. Inflorescence a moderately dense 

 deltoid bipinnate panicle 4-6 in. long ; branches few, spicate, 

 patent, 1-1| in. long, 4-6-flowered, subtended by small lanceolate 

 bracts ; flower-bracts I in. long, ovate, with a large cusp, reddish. 

 Ovary with calyx white, f in. long ; sepals ovate, with an erecto- 

 patent brown mucro. Petals shortly protruded. Berry snow- 

 white, J in. diam. 



