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Ta b . 6565.
ÆCHMEA l i n d e n i .
Native of South Brazil.
na T . or d . br o m e l i a c e æ.—Tribe br o m e l i e æ.
Genus æc h m e a, Ruiz et Pavon; (Baker in Trimen Journ. Bot. N.S. vol. viii.
p. 129.)
æc h m e a (Pothuava) Lindeni; acaulis, cespitosa, foliis circiter 20 loratis rigidis
erectis 2–3-pedalibus apice rotundatis minute cuspidatis facie viridibus canaliculatis
dorso obscure lepidotis et lineatis margine aculeis minutis deltoideis
ascendentibus armatis, pedunculo subpedali foliis pluribus parvis lanceolatis
scariosis adpressis superioribus rubellis prædito, floribus multis in spicam
densam oblongam simplicem aggregatis, bracteis membranaceis rubris inferioribus
lanceolatis acutis calyce æquilongis, ovario oblongo luteo glabro, sepalis
deltoideo-orbicularibus imbricatis distincte oblique cuspidatis, petalis lingulatis
citrinis sepalis duplo longioribus basi appendiculatis, genitalibus inclusis.
Æ. (Pothuava) Lindeni, Baker in Trimen Journ. N.S. vol. viii. (1879) p. 233.
hop l o p h y T u m Lindeni, E. Morren. in Belg. Hort. vol. xv. (1865) p. 164; vol. xxiii.
(1873) p. 81, t. 5; K. Koch in Wochenschrift, vol. viii. (1865) p. 398.
Next to Billbergia, Æchmea may fairly be considered the
most effective genus of Bromeliads for decorative purposes.
Of late years our knowledge of it has rapidly increased, and
several fine new species have been brought into cultivation.
Taking the genus in a broad sense, so as to include Hoplophytum,
Echinostachys, Pothuava, and Canistrum, as it is
treated in my monograph in the Journal of Botany above cited,
we know now not less than sixty species, so that next to
Tillandsia it is the largest genus in the Natural Order. The
present plant was distributed by Linden in 1865, and was
received by him from M. Libon, who discovered it in the province
of Santa Catherina in South Brazil. Our drawing was
made from a plant presented to the Kew collection by Mr. J.
T. Peacock, which flowered in the palm-stove in March, 1879.
It is a near ally of the plant figured by Gaudichaud (Atlas Bonite,
Tab. 117) under the name of Ptothuava spicata, which I
j u n e 1s T , 1881.