i 
iECHMEA DISCOLOR. 
iECHMEA DISCOLOR. 
Nat. Order. BnoMEUACE^. 
Geneeic Ciiaeaoter.— -Echmea, Ruiz and Paeon.— Bracts 
cup-shaped. Perigone superior, six-parted ; external lobes cahj- 
cine, equal, spirally twisted, awned or unarmed, dilated obliquely 
below tbe ajjex ; interior lobes petaloid, mucli longer than the 
outer, twisted below, with scales at the base within, or more 
rarely naked. Slama:s sLx, inserted at tbe bottom of the peri- 
gone ; filaments filiform, three of them adnate to the base of the 
interior lobes ; anthers ovate, fixed by the back, sub-incumbent. 
Orari/ inferior, three-celled. Omiles numerous, pendulous from 
the central angles of the cells, anatropous. Style filiform. Stig. 
mns three, linear or petaloid, spirally twisted. Berry ovate, sub- 
globose. Seeds numetous.—{I!ndlicher, Genera Flantarum, 1301.) 
JESCRIPTION.- 
JEciiMEA niscGLoa, Murreii. Variegated JEchmea. — Leaves 
broad, concave, reflexed, shortly acuminated, smooth, shining, 
slightly undulate and serrate, the teeth short and distant ; pa- 
nicle surpassing the leaves, the lower branches divaricated ; the 
scape clothed below with lanceolate, elongate, reflexed scales ; 
bracts wanting ; calycine lobes oblique, obtuse ; petaloid lobes 
obtuse, connivent. 
Synonymv. — -Echmea discolor, Morren, in Aimales de la Soc. 
Roy. de Bot. de Gaud., ii., 175, t. 65. Soolcer, in Botanical Ma- 
gazine, t. 4293. 
-A tropical herb, difi'ering from others of tlie geuus in tlie absence of the 
'^ bracteoles beneath the flowers. The leaves are broad, suddenly acuminated near the apex, 
concave, reflexed, with jjarallel slightly undulated margins, sharply serrate mth very short 
distant teeth ; they are of a dull green above, aud dirty violaceous beneath. The panicle is longer 
than the leaves, of a scarlet colom- above, and beai-s the flowers distantly spiked along the 
branches ; the scape is clothed below with elongated lanceolate scales, loose and reflexed ; 
the lower branches are divergent, and the flowers without bracteoles. The calycine segments 
are oblique and obtuse, scarlet below, and blacldsli on the fore portion ; the coroUine lobes are 
obtuse and connivent, whitish at the base, and stained with scarlet in the upper half. — A. H. 
HrsTOKY, &c. — Om- drawing of this very handsome species was made from a plant in the 
collection of Messrs. Henderson, of the Pine-Apple Nm-sery, Edgeware Road, where it was 
finely in bloom in the month of January. It is found to be a very valuable plant for orna- 
mental pm-poses, owing to its winter-blooming habit, and the length of time which at that dull 
season its brOliantly-coloured blossoms remain in a fresh aud attractive condition. The imex- 
pauded buds, as remarked by Sir W. J. Hooker {Bot. Mag., t. 4293), have a most strikuig 
resemblance to the seeds of Abrus precatoriiis, commonly called Crab's-ej'es, and which are 
sometimes strmig as necklaces. This ^chmea'is believed to be a native of Brazil, and was 
introduced to English gardens fi-om those of the Continent some four or five years since. 
The generic name vEchmea is derived from the Greek aichnie, a point, in allusion to the 
rigid points or awns with which the calycine lobes are, in some of the species, terminated. 
CuLTirEE. — Like all the plants belonging to Bromeliaceas, this veiy remarkable jjlant re- 
quires pecidiar treatment — viz., a season of fr-ee growth, a season of rest after the growth is 
matured, and then liberal treatment, to compel the production of the flower stem. Supposing 
yon have a young healthy plant, in a fom--inch pot, shift it immediately into an eight-inch pot, 
using a compost consisting of rich turfy loam, fibrous peat, and half-decomposed leaf mould, in 
equal proportions, with which, some gritty sand, potsherds, and charcoal might be intermixed. 
Use the comjjost in rough pieces, and pot rather Hghtly. After potting, place in a bottom-heat 
of 80 degrees, and when the plant begins to grow freely, water with weak manm-e-water, once 
or twice a-week. The plant wiU probably requii-e a second shift towai'ds Midsummer : use the 
same compost, and pursue the same general treatment, but take care to bring the plant into a 
state of rest by the end of September. Through the winter, it need not be plunged in bottom- 
heat, but must be kept at the warm end of the plant-stove, and rather di-y at the root. When 
it is [vs-ished to bloom the plant, plunge it at once in a brisk bottom-heat, water fi-eely with 
manure-water, and do everything in yoiu- power to induce vigorous growth. After the plant 
has bloomed, the old part may be cut away, and the suckers, of which five or six wiU be pro- 
duced, treated for free growth as before directed. The ^chmea is propagated by suckers, in 
the same way as the Pine Apple. — A. 
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