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346 



CRAUATA DE REDE. 



[APPEND. 



Spec. Char. Leaves radical, ciliate serrated ; the 

 berries are united into one pyramidal fruit; the brac- 

 teae iong, imbricate, covering the fruit. 



Nat. Char. No stem. 



Leaves radical and many, (from 6 to 9 feet long,) one 

 inch and a half wide, channelled; the edges ciliate 

 spiny, ash-coloured on the convex, and green on the 

 concave surface. 



Flowers, The stalk, a foot and a half long, with 

 alternate leaves, the flowers of a bluish purple colour, 

 with the receptacles united. Calyx monophyllous, 

 with obtuse indentations, trifid, erect. Corolla tripe- 

 talous, tubular, erect, obtuse, blue, each petal has at 

 the base nectariferous scales. Stamina consist of six 

 filiform filaments, three alternate and three opposite, 

 fixed to the receptacle ; and of oblong, bilocular anthers. 

 Pistil consists of one filiform style with a single stigma. 

 Pericarp, a trilocular berry, united by the sides to the 

 other berries, which altogether form one pyramidal 

 fruit, covered, having long imbricate bracteae. The 

 seeds are of the size of a grain of maize, fasciated. 



The plant is to be found upon the coast of Pcrnam- 

 buco, Paraiba, and Rio Grande, it does not extend into 

 the interior more than ten or twelve leagues. It is com- 

 monly called crauatd de rede, or net crauata, because the 

 inhabitants of the parts in which its grows, make their 

 fishing-nets of its fibres. It blossoms in July and 

 August. 



This species of bromelia is new ; the fruit of it is simi- 

 lar to that of the bromelia ananas, being however smaller; 

 the berries are less juicy, and of a disagreeable taste ; 

 the bracteae are three inches in length, erect, and placed 

 one over the other after the manner of tiles, so as to 



