184 HANDBOOK OF BEOMELIACE^. 



oblong, obtuse, i in. long. Petals Ungulate, ^ in. longer than the 

 sepals. Style and stamens short. 

 Hab. Paraguay, Balansa 534 I 



17. D. FRiGiDA Hook. fil. in Bot. Mag. t. 6294. D. regalis 

 Linden & Morren (M.D.). Poiirretia frigida Hort. Linden. — 

 Densely caespitose. Leaves 50-60 in a rosette, ensiform, 1^ ft. 

 long, an inch broad low down, narrowed gradually to an acuminate 

 point, bright green on the face, finely lineate on the back, the 

 marginal teeth large, ascending, lanceolate, horny and pungent. 

 Peduncle stout, 1^-2 ft. long ; lower bract-leaves with long serrated 

 tip. Inflorescence rarely simple, usually a panicle with many short 

 dense spicate branches, the end one the longest, 6-8 in. long; 

 flower-bracts ovate-lanceolate, ^-^ in. long. Sepals ovate, pubes- 

 cent, ^— ^ in. long. Petals bright yellow ; orbicular blade half as 

 long again as the calyx. Filaments thick, fleshy, as long as the 

 calyx. Style very short. 



Hab. Central Brazil. Described from a plant that flowered at Kew, Deo., 

 1879. Probably not more than a variety of D. altissima. 



18. D. ALTISSIMA Lindl. in Bot. Keg. 1841, Misc. No. 183. D. 

 princeps Lemaire in Jard. Fleur. t. 224-225, ex parte. D. laxlflora 

 Mart. D. gigantea K. Koch. D. ramosa Hort. Garrelia cnclio- 

 lirioides Gaudich. Atlas Bonite, t. 115. — Leaves sometimes 100 in 

 a dense rosette 2 ft. in diameter, ensiform-acuminate, 1^ ft. long, 

 an inch broad low down, tapering gradually to the point, green and 

 glabrous on the face, vertically lineate (green and white) on the 

 back, armed with copious pungent brown spines J in. long. 

 Peduncle stout, not longer than the leaves. Inflorescence an 

 ample panicle, with sometimes 10-12 branches, the lower a foot 

 long, subtended by lanceolate branch-bracts 1-2 in. long ; lower 

 pedicels J in. long ; flower-bracts as long as the flowers. Sepals 

 ovate, ^-f in. long. Petals bright yellow, twice as long as the 

 calyx ; blade orbicular, J- in. broad. Stamens shorter than the 

 petals. Styles very short. Capsule ^ in. diam. 



Hab. Central Brazil. Introduced into cultivation about 1840, and again 

 by Libon from Minas Geraes in 1847. 



19. D. CATHARiNENSis K. Koch lud. Sem. Berol. 1873, App. 4, 4. 

 — Leaves ensiform-acuminate, a foot long, an inch broad at the 

 base, glabrous on the face, deeply channelled in the apper half, 

 distinctly vertically lineate on the back, armed with large pungent 

 spreading lanceolate brown spines. Peduncle stout, 6-9 in. long. 

 Spikes simple or compound, the end one much the longest, -|-1 ft. 

 long ; rachis stout, pubescent ; lower flower-bracts ovate-lanceolate, 

 shorter than the flowers. Sepals ovate, l-^ in. long, tomentose. 

 Petals half as long again as the calyx ; blade oblong. Stamens 

 shorter than the petals. Styles very short. 



Hab. Books of the coast of South Brazil ; island of Santa Catherina, &c., 

 Gaudichaud 130 ! Tweedie 795 ! 790 ! 



20. D. FLORiBUNDA Griscb. Symb. Fl. Argent. 1878, 331. — 

 Structure of D, rarijiora, but panicle several feet long, rachises 



