 LXXXI-A STARCH-YIELDING BROMELIAD. 
( Puya edulis, Morren » 
In In arranging the viris of Bromeliacee, and the manuscript notes- 
relating to these plants, by the late Professor Morren, of M và 
acquired by the Bentham trustees, and presented by them to this ost 
blishment, ys deter was found written by M. ME RON of Rio Janeiro, in 
the year 1878, respecting a Bromeliad with esculent leaves. The plant 
to eae oe ee made is in cultivation in Europe, but it has not 
een seen by +: Bak ker, who is now engaged in monographing the 
mily, Grent fh in a its young condition without flowers. It was p 
ished by Mo as a species ‘of the genus Puya, but there can be little 
doubt that it is really a Dyckia of the species ot which bores ana 
Southern Brazil, and Uruguay are the head-quarte r. Baker 
opinion ‘that Pry ya edulis, Morren, is nearly allied to Dyckia frigida, 
Ik. f. (Botanical Magazine, t. 6294), a which D. regalis, and 
_ Pourretia frigida are garden names. So far as at present known, the 
Seat ho is confined to Lug m PUR The following is an 
un 
ure em Ses 23rd September 1878. 
«x ig. io tender you my warmest than ks, and I am rejoiced to be 
able to send you by post two packets, Mice mn (1) a young plant of a 
 Bromeliad ffom the basin of the Rio Doce (2) seeds of the same; 
(3) portions of dry leaves, ready to be crushed for the extraction of the- 
starch; (4) the same starch ready for consumption. This vegetable has - 
saved. many people, especially Índians, from dying of hung 
specimens have travelled i a three months, and all may be altered by 
he moistur 
Li 
also ar , 
. “The case presents novelty enough to me. The extrapRiod « of starch 
from the leafy parenchyma was strange to me, but could not be doubted. 
When I visited Rio Doce, the people often spoke to me of this vegetable, 
assuring, me that the SERPS was eagerly sought after as an article of 
= “A. LrETZE." 
The aed ob descrip of the plant from the e of Professor Morren 
ppeared in La Belgique Horticole, 1878, p 
-~ “ Puya edulis Ans nov.). There grows in a Brasil in the province of 
Rio Doce, a Bromeliad which furnishes in abundance an excellent - 
fecula. This al imentary Cte accumulates in the leaves, which it 
is necessary to erush in order to obtain it in abundance. "The plant. 
which has a stem, attains ers dimensions, The base of the leaves, - 
which are very spiny, measures as much as 21 inches across. This plant — 
rer viet desolated certain provinces in Brazil. We have not seen __ 
the fovers but to pee from the habit, and T ir from the t it pé 
rusa e ipit the genus Puya’ 
