DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 95 



remunerative if ne ±iad not committed the fault of employing inexpert hands ; he 

 spent his capital in useless experiments, and again suspended operations. (Kew 

 Bull., September, 1892). 



Bromelia karatas (see Karatas plumieri). 



Bromelia pinguin. The Wild Pineapple. Pinguin. 



Abounds in the West Indies and Central America, British Guiana, and Venezuela. 

 Common in Yucatan; known as Chom. The species is common on the rocky hills of 

 the West Indies, and particularly in Jamaica, where the plants are used for hedges 

 and fences. It is abundant in Trinidad, where it grows on the poorer soils, the leaves 

 often reaching a length of 5 or G feet. 



In the literature of the fiber-producing species of Bromelia in tropical America the 

 greatest confusion exists, and particularly in relation to the fiber of this species and 

 B. sylvestris. I have myself been led into error regading B. sylvestris, basing my 

 published statements on the literature of the subject of thirty or forty years ago, 

 including the communications which appear in the earlier publications of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and upon the records accompanying the specimens them- 

 selves received through the Smithsonian Institution, and from early correspondents 

 of the Department, together with documents and specimens received at a compara- 

 tively recent period. Becoming convinced of the confusion regarding B. sylvestris, a 

 communication on the subject was addressed to Dr. Morris, of Kew, who says in 

 reply : 



"lam afraid the investigation of the fiber-yielding members of the Bromeliacece is a 

 very difficult question. We know really very little of the species yielding fibers in 

 tropical America beyond two or three of the most common of them. B. sylvestris 

 has been confounded by many writers as a form of the common pineapple. Hence, 

 fiber labeled B. sylvestris may after all be nothing but pineapple fiber. The true B. 

 sylvestris Willd, figured in the Bot, Mag., t. 2392, as the ' narrow-leafed wild pine- 

 apple,' probably does yield fiber, but it is impossible to say without careful study 

 of the plant itself whether it is the form of the common pineapple or true B. sylves- 

 tris. The wild pineapple fiber of British Honduras, which is mentioned in my book 

 as Bromelia pita is probably Karatas plumieri yielding silk grass. The former must be 

 dropped. It has no meaning except as a synonym of the latter." 



B. pinguin is everywhere common in the West Indies, yet only one or two speci- 

 mens from the West Indies in the Department collection are labeled pinguin, while 

 many are named sylvestris. A recent specimen from Trinidad, marked B. sylvestris, 

 and which also bears the name pinquine, is probably from this species. See further 

 remarks under B. sylvestris. 



Botanical description. — B. pinguin Linn., Sp. Plant., 408 (Dill. Elth., t. 240, fig. 

 311; Trew Ehret., t. 51); Red. Lil., t. 396. Agallostacliys pinguin Beer. Karatas 

 penguin Miller. Ananas pinguin Gaert. Karatas plumieri Devan, non Morren — Acaules- 

 cent. Leaves 100 or more in a rosette, ensiform, stiffly erect in the lower half, 

 reaching a length of 5 to 6 feet, 1£ to 2 inches broad at the middle, tapering gradu- 

 ally to the point, green and glabrous on the face, thinly white-lepidote on the back, 

 armed with very large-toothed pungent brown prickles. Peduncle stout, stiffly 

 erect, about a foot long, its leaves often bright red. Panicle dense, stiffly erect, 1 to 

 2 feet long; axis and branches densely mealy ; branch-bracts oblong, pale, lower with 

 a rigid spine-edged cusp ; lower branches 3 to 4 inches long, bearing 6 to 8 sessile 

 flowers; flower-bracts, minute, ovate. Ovary cylindrical, very pubescent, about an 

 inch long; sepals nearly as long, with a densely matted tip. Petals reddish, densely 

 matted at the tip with white tomentum, about 1£ inches longer than the calyx. 

 Berry ovoid, yellowish brown, 1 inch diameter. {Dr. Baker, .) 



Structural Fiber.— In the Kew Bulletin for April, 1887, page 8, the fiber of this 

 species is thus referred to: The fiber of the Jamaica pinquin {Bromelia pinguin L.) 

 would appear not to be of high value. The plant covers hundreds of acres in the 



