BILLBERGIA. 73 



than in any other BtUberr/ia, ascendmg, brown-black, lanceolate, 

 ^-|- in. long. Peduncle a foot long, its bract-leaves all adpressed, 

 pale and inconspicuous. Inflorescence a simple erect spike 3-4 in. 

 long; flower-bracts all minute. Ovary green, glabrous, clavate- 

 cylindrical, ^— ^ in. long ; sepals linear-oblong, as long as the 

 ovary. Petals lingulate, pale green with a violet tip, 1^ in. long, 

 falcate from the top of the calyx. Style reaching to the tip of 

 the petals. 



Var. TiGRiNA Hort. (M.D.). — Leaves brown, copiously banded 

 with white on the back. Petals narrow, 2 in. long. 



Hab. Brazil. Introduced into cultivation by Eieclel to the St. Petersburg 

 Garden, where it first flowered in 185G. We have had it at Kew for many 

 years, but it does not flower freely. 



7. B. sPEciosA Thunb. in Holm Decad. PI. Bras. iii. 30, with 

 figure. B. annvna Lindl. m Bot. Eeg. sub t. 1068 ; E. Morren in 

 Belg. Hort. 1875, 19, t. 1—4 (M.D.); Wittm. in Berl. Gartenzeit. 

 1884, 294, flg. 97. B. dUcolor and j^^ida Beer Brom. 121. 

 B. varicgnta Schultes fil. Syst. Veg. vii. 122. Bronielia vari/'f/ata 

 Arruda de Camara. B. imUida Ker in Bot. Reg. t. 314. Tillandsui 

 awccna Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 76. Pitcairnia discolor Loisel. in Herb. 

 Gen. Amat. t. 345. Ponrrctla magninpatha Colla Hort. Ripul. App. 

 334, t. 19. — Leaves 10-12 in a utricular rosette, connivent in the 

 lower foot, lorate, 1|- ft. long, 1|- in. broad at the middle, firm in 

 texture, deltoid- cuspidate at the tip, green on the face, thinly 

 white-lepidote, not distinctly banded on the back, the marginal 

 prickles minute, deltoid. Peduncle 1-1^ ft. long, pale, with many 

 bright red lanceolate ascending or deflexed scariose bract-leaves 

 3-4 in. long. Inflorescence suberect, lax, ovate, 4-6 in. long, the 

 upper flowers single, sessile, the lower on short 2-4-flowered 

 branches often subtended by large red bracts. Ovary oblong- 

 cylindrical, greenish, shallowly sulcate, ^ in. long ; sepals an inch 

 long, pale green tipped with violet-blue. Petals 2 in. long, green 

 with a violet tip. Stamens nearly and style quite as long as the 

 petals. Berry the size of an olive. 



Hab. Common in the woods of Brazil, about Pernambuco and Kio Janeiro. 

 A common species in cultivation, under many forms. B. cldoroci/anea De 

 Vriese, B. Wiotiana De Jonghe, B. palUscens, K. Koch, B. elegans Mart., and 

 B. Thunbergiana Hort., are forms of this species, which is the original plant 

 on which tlie genus Billbergia was founded. Tillandsia dintacaia, Veil. Fl. 

 Flum. iii. t. 141, should probably be referred here. 



8. B. TwEEDiEANA Bakcr. — Leaves lorate, 3 ft. long, 4-5 in. 

 broad at the dilated base, 2^-3 in. at the middle, firm in texture, 

 thinly lepidote on the back, rounded to an apical cusp, the close 

 spreading deltoid-cuspidate marginal spines -^^ ^i^- ^ong. Peduncle 

 slender, 1^ ft. long ; bract-leaves large, adpressed, imbricated, 

 scariose. Inflorescence a very lax corymbose panicle 6-12 in. long 

 and broad : lower branches subtended by large lanceolate bracts. 

 Ovary cylindrical, thinly white-lepidote, finely sulcate, ^ in. long; 

 sepals hnear-oblong, as long as the ovary. Petals lingulate, 1^ in. 

 long, green tipped with violet-blue. Stamens nearly as long as 

 the petals ; anthers linear, stramineous, ^ in. long. 



