116 HANDBOOK OF BROMELIACE.E. 



Subgenus 7. Melinonia. 



101. p. NUDA Baker in Journ. Bot. 1881, 269. — Acaulescent;. 

 Leaves lanceolate, ^ ft. long, f in. broad low down, sessile, rosulate, 

 chartaceous, green and glabrous on both surfaces, armed from base 

 to apex with small ascending lanceolate brown horny spines. 

 Peduncle slender, glabrous, a foot or more long. Kacemes 6-7, 

 forming a large rhomboid panicle, the end a foot long, very lax ; 

 rachises slender, glabrous ; branch-bracts very small ; pedicels 

 slender, f-1 in. long ; flower-bracts minute, ovate. Sepals lanceo- 

 late, glabrous, IJ—li- in long. Petals bright red, not more than 

 half an inch longer than the calyx. Style longer than the petals. 

 Capsule fin. long. Seeds triangular, flat, with abroad horny border. 



Hab. British Guiana ; banks of the Kapunnunie, Ap])un 1582 ! Collected 

 about 1863. It is included in Sir K. Schomburgk's series of Demeraran 

 drawings at the British Museum. 



102. P. suBJUNCTA Baker. — Acaulescent. Leaves with a distinct 

 petiole half a foot or more long, dilated gradually towards the base 

 and a linear chartaceous indistinctly spine-margined blade 2 ft. or 

 more long, i in. broad at the middle, green and glabrous above, 

 thinly furfuraceous beneath. Eaceme lax, simple, finally half a 

 foot long ; pedicels very short, arcuate or erecto-patent. Flowers 

 not seen. Calyx-tube oblong, f-f in. long in the fruiting stage, 

 adnate to the ovaiy nearly to its apex ; segments shorter than the 

 tube. Seeds with a small nucleus and a broad horny border on 

 three sides. 



Hab. French Guiana, Poiteau I Described from a specimen from J. Gay's 

 herbarium, given to him in 1824. The ovary is more adnate to the calyx than 

 in any other species of the genus. 



103. p. RUBiGiNosA Baker. Melinonia ruhifjw osa IBrong. inedit. — 

 Acaulescent. Leaves with a channelled petiole a foot long without 

 any prickles and a thin lanceolate blade If ft. long, If in. broad at 

 the middle, clothed with rusty-brown furfuraceous tomentum 

 beneath. Inflorescence a lax simple raceme, in flower 3-4 in. 

 finally 6-8 in. long ; pedicels erecto-patent, lower f in. long ; 

 bracts lanceolate, f-lf in. long. Sepals lanceolate, f in. long. 

 Petals red, lingulate, 1^ in. long. Stamens just exceeding the 

 petals. Liferior ovary f in. long and broad, rusty like the leaves. 

 Seeds with a horny border, not tailed. 



Hab. French Guiana, Leprieurl Described from Brongniart's si^ecimen, 

 grown in the Paris Garden in 1851. Sent home in 1847. We have had it at 

 Kew for many years, but it has never flowered. 



104. P. iNCARNATA Baker. Melinonia incarnata Brong. inedit. 

 Fepinia incarnata E. Morren inedit. (M.D.). — Acaulescent. Leaves 

 linear, not distinctly petioled, 2-3 ft. long, f-1 in. broad at the 

 middle, thin in texture, minutely spiiie-margined, green and 

 glabrous above, white-furfuraceous beneath. Peduncle a foot long ; 

 bract-leaves with produced points. Eaceme moderately dense, 

 simple, f ft. long ; rachis stout, reddish ; pedicels ascending, 

 ^-f in. long ; bracts linear, green, the lower an inch or more long. 

 Calyx adnate f in. in the flowering stage ; sepals bright red, 



