188 HANDBOOK OF BROMELIACE^. 



of leaves ; flower-bracts ovate, acute, J in. long. Sepals oblong, 

 subpungent at the tip, J in. long. Petals white, ^ in. long, with a 

 linear-lanceolate blade J lin. broad. 



Hab. Amazon valley ; banks of the Yapura, on rocks at Araracoara, 

 Martins. 



Subgenus 5. Encholirion. 



34. D. sPECTABiLis Baker. Encholirion s2)ectabile'MsiTt.', Sclmltes 

 fil. Syst. Veg. vii. 1233. — Leaves dense, rosulate, ensiform- acumi- 

 nate, 2 ft. long, an inch broad at the base, very rigid, glossy on the 

 face, thinly white-lepidote and lineate beneath, armed with large 

 pungent spreading deltoid teeth. Peduncle stiffly erect, 6-14 ft. 

 long. Inflorescence a dense simple cylindrical raceme 1-2 ft. long, 

 2-3 in. diam. ; pedicels spreading or rather ascending, ^-i- in. 

 long ; flower-bracts minute, linear. Sepals ovate, under |- in. 

 long. Petals linear or linear-lanceolate, greenish-yellow, f in. 

 long. Stamens longer than the petals ; filaments filiform ; anthers 

 linear, | in. long. Ovary conical, ^ in. long ; style half as long as 

 the ovary. 



Hab. Central Brazil ; islands of the River St. Francisco, Martins. Com- 

 mon about Oeiras, Gardner 2329 ! 



26. Hechtia Klotzsch. 



Flowers subdioicous. Sepals distinct, oblong, coriaceous, im- 

 bricated. Petals free, broad, obtuse, spreading, about twice as long as 

 the calyx. Stamens usually shorter than the petals, 3 attached to 

 their base, rudimentary in the pistillate flowers ; filaments subulate; 

 anthers oblong, attached on the back near the base. Ovary 

 superior, 3-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flowers ; ovules 

 few, superposed ; style very short ; stigmas linear, falcate, not con- 

 torted. Fruit a capsule with three septicidal valves. Seeds sub- 

 sessile, with a linear-oblong nucleus with a broad margin. — Leaves 

 in a dense rosette, ensiform-acuminate, rigid, armed with large 

 pungent spines. Pedimcle produced from the axis of some of the 

 outer leaves of the rosette. Flowers minute, whitish. All the 

 species require cool treatment in cultivation, like Dyckia and 

 Bhodostacliys, 



1. H. GLOMERATA Zuccar. PI. Nov. Hort. Monac. fasc. iv. 241, t. 

 6 (M.D.). H. Ghieshreghtii Lemaire in 111. Hort. t. 378 ; Hook, in 

 Bot. Mag. t. 6842. DasyUrion jntcairniiE folium Zucc. olim. — 

 Leaves 50 or more in a dense rosette, ensiform-acuminate, 1-1|- ft. 

 long, f-1 in. broad low down, much recurved, tapering gradually to 

 the point, turning bright red when old, green and glabrous on the 

 face, silvery-lepidote and distinctly ribbed down the back, armed 

 with lajge pungent hooked upcurved marginal prickles. Peduncles 

 often 2-3 to a rosette, flexuose, 1-2 ft. long ; bract-leaves small, 

 distant, scariose, erect. Inflorescence a lax panicle ^-1 ft. long, 

 formed of numerous dense ascending ovoid or oblong strobiliform 

 spikes i-1 in. long ; flower-bracts ovate, shorter than the calyx. 



