88 



HANDBOOK OF BUOMIiJLIACKiE. 



Tribe IL— PITCAIRNIE.E. 



20. Brocchinia, SchuHesJil. 



Perianth inserted above the middle of the ovary ; sepals obovate- 

 oblong ; petals not longer than the sepals, orbicular with a short 

 claw. Staviens a little shorter than the perianth-segments ; fila- 

 ments slightly flattened ; anthers small, globose, dorsifixed. Ocartj 

 half-inferior, clavate-trigonous, 3-celled ; ovules many, superposed ; 

 style short ; stigmas short, not twisted. Capsule dry, small, 

 clavate-trigonous, septicidally 3-valved at the apex. Seeds flat, 

 with a small oblong nucleus, with a horny border and a lanceolate 

 horny appendage at each end. — Trunk woody, like that of a Yucca. 

 Leaves densely rosulate, with a large entire lorate lamina. Inflor- 

 escence a large lax decompound panicle. Flowers small, whitish. 

 Very distinct as a genus, both in structure and habit. 



1. B. PANicuLATA Scliultes fil. Syst. Veg. vii. 1250. — Caulescent, 

 with a woody trunk 6 ft. high. Leaves lorate, 2 ft. long, 3 in. 

 broad at the middle. Panicle pyramidal, 2 ft. long, 1^ ft. broad; 

 flowers spreading and subdistichous ; pedicels under a line long ; 

 flower-bracts ovate, acute, 2-3 times the length of the pedicels. 

 Sepals obtuse, under ^ in. long. Capsule l-^ in. long. 



Hab. Amazon valley ; Mount Araracoara, Martins. 



2. B. coRDYLiNoiDEs Baker in Journ. Bot. 1882, 330. B. deme- 

 rarensis and Andreana Hort. Cordijline micrantha Baker in Gard. 

 Chron. 1880, ii. 243, t. 47. — Caulescent, with a woody trunk 

 reaching a height of 12-15 ft. and a diameter of 6-8 in. Leaves 

 in a dense rosette at the top, lorate from an ovate base, 3-4 ft. 

 long, 6-7 in. broad at the middle, moderately firm in texture, 

 entire, deltoid at the apex, green and glabrous on both sides. 

 Peduncles shorter than the leaves ; bract-leaves many, ovate, 

 green, erecto-patent. Inflorescence a lax decompound panicle 

 6-8 ft. long ; lower-branches 1^-2 ft. long ; final branches 4-6 in. 

 long, laxly racemose ; pedicels very short ; bracts ovate, acute, 

 longer than the pedicels. Flower whitish, under ^ in. long. 

 Capsule i-i in. long. 



Hab. British Guiana, covering acres on the Kaieteur savannah and 

 ascending to 5500 ft. on Mount Roraima, Appun 1 Ini Thurn ! Jenman 1196 I 

 See Im Thurn in Trans. Linn. Soc. 2 ser. Bot. ii. 256, 269. There is a 

 specimen at the British Museum, gathered by Appun in 1872. It was intro- 

 duced into cultivation in 1882, and a fine plant may now be seen in the Cactus- 

 house at Kew. It flowered for the first time in the autumn of 1888. 



3. B. REDucTA Baker in Journ. Bot. 1882, 331. — Terrestrial, 

 acaulescent. Leaves very few, forming a subcylindrical rosette, 

 lorate, erect, obtuse, 1|- ft. long, 2 in. broad at the middle. 

 Peduncle 2 ft. long ; bract-leaves small, distant, adpressed. Panicle 

 lax, rhomboid, 8-12 in. long ; branches subspicate, simple, rarely 

 forked, at most 6-8 in. long ; flower-bracts very small, ovate. 

 Flower not more than ^ in. long. Sepals oblong, about as long as 

 the pilose ovary. 



Hab. British Guiana; wet parts of the Kaieteur savannah, Jenman 873! 



