atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

staminate and 1 pistillate, cream-colored with violet stamens; fruit, less than 2 cm long,
ovoid, purplish, one-seeded. Planted ornamental. 5(137), 6, 7.
BROMELIACEAE (Pineapple Family)
Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill "pineapple"
te bainaboro (K); fara, painapolo (T)
syns. Bromelia comosa L.; B. ananas L.; Ananas sativus Schu1t.f.; A. ananas
(L.) Karst.
Pre-World War I post-European contact introduction. Brazil. Rare. Green to
bluish-grey short-stemmed perennial herb, up to 1 m high; leaves, sword-shaped,
succulent, pointed and sometimes armed (spiny), arranged in a bushy rosette; inflores-
cence, terminal, many-flowered head with small blue flowers; fruit, a pinecone-shaped or
globose syncarp, 15 to 30 cm long, yellow-brown to green, surmounted by a crown of
small leaves, which is composed of many 6-sided berries arranged spirally and embedded
in yellow pulp. Food plant in home gardens at Location and Topside Workshops and
occasionally in expatriate home gardens. Fruit edible. 3, 5, 6.
Nidularium innocenti Lem.
Recent introduction. Brazil. Rare. Perennial rosette-forming herb, up to 50 cm of
higher; leaves, strap-shaped, finely-toothed, radiating from a rosette, overlapping bases
forming water-holding reservoirs; flowers, central, small, white with showy red-orange
bracts. Ornamental pot plant. 6.
Tillandsia usneoides L. "Spanish moss", "Florida moss", "long moss"
Recent introduction. Trop. America. Rare. Pendulous, rootless epiphyte with
slender, wiry stems, up to 4 m or longer; leaves, 2.5 to 7.5 cm long, grey, narrow,
curved, threadlike, scattered at regular intervals along stem; flowers, nearly 12 mm long,
axillary, inconspicuous, single, yellowish. Planted ornamental. 6.
Vriesia sp. "vriesia"
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Recent introduction. Trop. America. Rare. Perennial herb with stiff smooth-edged
variegated leaves arranged in a rosette. Ornamental pot plant. 6.