Aechmea bracteata
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Aechmea bracteata
Species
Aechmea bracteata Red Leaf form.
Ian Hook, Sydney 08/07



Aechmea bracteata (Swartz 1788: 56) Grisebach (1864b: 592) var. pacifica Beutelspacher (197l: 44): See Espejo-Serna et al in Phytotaxa 310(1): 62. 2017
The specimens of A. bracteata (Sw.) Griseb. from Chiapas and from all the Pacific Coast has been located in the var. pacifica. However, the revision of nearly 400 specimens collected throughout the country, has led us to conclude that it is not possible to separate the species into varieties, because there were no uniform morphological and ecological characters that made it possible to clearly differentiate them. We do not consider any varieties in that species. Accepted Butcher/Gouda June 2017

Detail from Utley, J. F. Bromeliaceae. In: Flora Mesoamericana. 6: 151-2.1994
Translated by Butcher
4. Aechmea bracteata (Swartz) Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Indies 592. .1864.
Bromelia bracteata Sw, Prodr. 56 (1788) Holotype: Mexico, Houston s. n. (BM)
Aechmea bracteata (Sw) Griseb. var pacifica Beutelsp., Leave as variety Gouda/Butcher Oct 2015
A. pittieri Mez Accepted by Gouda/Butcher Oct 2015
Epiphytic, 90-200 cm high in flower.
Leaves 79-120 cm long;
Sheaths 12-18 cm wide, ovate to elliptic, densely brown dotted-lepidotas, entire;
Blades 5-8 cm wide, ligulate to broad triangular, glabrescent on the face, grey lepdote on the underside, spinose-dentate, attenuate to acute,
Peduncle 50-70 cm long, erect, typically floccose;
bracts shorter to longer than internodes, erect to scarcely divergent, entire to obscurely serrated distally.
Inflorescence 40-120 cm long, 2-3 (- 4?) -pinnate compound proximally, 1-pinnate distally with 50 or more spikes, sparsely downy to glabrous;
rachis distinctly flattened somewhat excavated adjacent to the ovary;
Primary bracts lower ones 14 (- 21) cm long, the upper ones and middle ones much reduced, the margins entire or inconspicuously serrulate;
spikes (3-) 5-12 cm long, patent at maturity, with 4-12 distichous flowers.
Floral bracts 0.5-1.1 cm long, shorter to longer than the ovary, almost as long as to slightly longer than internodes, suborbicular to broad ovate, mucronate to acute and apiculate, divergent to patent at anthesis, finely nerved, glabrescent to arachnoid.
Flowers sessile;
sepals 4-5 mm long, free to connate for less than 1 mm, asymmetrical-acute and mucronate, glabrous or glabrescent;
Petals yellow, lavender or green?
Habitat Tall evergreen forests to semi-deciduous.
T (Croat 40095, MO); Ch (Martinez 10899, MEXU); Y (Utley & Utley 6497, NOLS); B (Liesner & Dwyer 1605, MO); G (Gentry 8353, MO); H (Yuncker 4700, MO); N (Seymour 5600, MO); CR (Utley & Utley 4922, NOLS); P (Smith & Downs, 1979: 1836);
0-1000 (- 1400) m. (Sinaloa and Tamaulipas to Colombia and Venezuela) It is a taxon with wide distribution and variability. In view of the variability in the length of the floral bracts with respect to the relative length of the ovary, it is best to treat Aechmea pittieri as a synonym of this species

Aechmea bracteata (Swartz) Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Indies 592. 1864.
Desc from S&D
Plant 5-17 dm or higher.
Leaves about 20, 3 to over 10 dm long,
Sheaths elliptic, very large and conspicuous, forming an ellipsoid tank, densely and finely brown-lepidote;
Blades ligulate, from acuminate to rounded-apiculate, 3-10 cm wide, coriaceous, pale green, concolorous, soon glabrous above, densely white-lepidote beneath, coarsely repand-serrate, the teeth lax, spreading, straight or uncinate, to 1cm long.
Scape erect, relatively slender, finely white-lanate at first;
Scape-bracts usually imbricate, lanceolate, acute, entire, bright red.
Inflorescence amply paniculate, thyrsoid or pyramidal with the lower branches elongate and much divided, 10-65 cm long;
axes red, white-pubescent;
Primary bracts lower ones like the scape-bracts, sometimes exceeding the axillary branches;
Spikes spreading, laxly and distichously 4-17-flowered;
rhachis slender, compressed, angled, flexuous.
Floral bracts spreading, broadly ovate, acute, aciculous, 5-8 mm long, much exceeded by the sepals, more or less nerved, the margins free and entire;
flowers sessile, divergent.
Sepals triangular-ovate, strongly asymmetric, mucronulate, 3-4 mm long, soon glabrous;
Petals linear, to 1 cm long, yellow, bearing 2 coarsely dentate scales well above the base;
Stamens included;
Ovary stout-ellipsoid or subglobose, enlarged in fruit; placentae apical; ovules caudate.

Aechmea bracteata var bracteata
Aloe Americana, arboribus innascens; foliis latis, membranaceis, ad margines spinosis Houstoun, Rel. Houstoun. ed. Banks 7, pl. 16. 1781.
Bromelia bracteata Swartz, Prodr. 56. 1788.
Aechmea schiedeana Schlechtendal, Linnaea 18: 437. 1844. Type. Hacienda de la Laguna, Vera Cruz, Mexico, Schiede & Deppe s n (B ? n v).
Hoplophytum paniculatum Beer, Bromel. 130. 1856, in part, as to Bromelia bracteata Swartz.
Hoplophytum bracteatum (Swartz) K. Koch, Wochenschr. Gartn. 3: 306. 1860; as to basionym only.
Hohenbergia bracteata (Swartz) Baker in Saunders, Ref. Bot. 4: sub pl. 284, 3. 1871.
Aechmea regularis Baker, Jour. Bot. London 17: 229. 1879. Type. "South Brazil, Weir ." (! Mez).
Aechmea macracantha Brongniart ex Andre, Ill. Hort. 27: 59. 1880. Type. Cultivated from Mexico, Brongniart in Paris Hortus s n (P; photo, US).
Aechmea barleei Baker, Gard. Chron. 11.20: 102. 1883. Type. British Honduras, Barlee s n (K; photo, US),1877.
Aechmea isabellina Baker, Jour. Bot. London 28: 305. 1890. Type. Boca del Polochic, Izabal, Guatemala, J. D. Smith 1824 (US), Apr 1889.
? Tillandsia spinosa Sesse & Mocino, Fl. Mex. ed. 2.81. 1894. Type. Mexico, ,Sesse s n (MA n v).

Plant flowering to over 2 m high.
Inflorescence usually tripinnate with large basal branches;
Secondary (or primary bracts in a bipinnate inflorescence) bracts abruptly reduced shortly above the base of the inflorescence.
Type. Houstoun s n (holotype, BM; photo GH), Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Distribution. Epiphyte, 30-1400 m alt, eastern Mexico to Colombia and Venezuela.
MEXICO. Tamaulipas: Tampico, 1938, Foster VIII (GH). San Luis Potosi: San Dieguito, Jun 1905. Palmer 645 of 1905 (GH, US); Tamazunchale, 2 Jul 1940, C. L. Hitchcock & Stanford 6915 (GH, US); Valles, Chontal to La Puerta, 2 May 1959, Rzedowski 10415 (IMPEX). Hidalgo: Huejutla, 20 May 1947, Moore 2913 (GH). Vera Cruz: Orizaba, Botteri 1004 (GH, US); Pueblo Viejo, May 1910, Palmer 435 of 1910 (GH, US); Barranca de Panoaya, Jul1920, Purpus 8518 (US); Santa Lucrecia, Apr 1923, Reko 4618 (US); 4629 (US); Mirador, Feb 1926, Reiche 421 (M); Rancho La Palmilla, Apr 1929, Purpus 12020 (GH); Tajin, Papantla, 16 Apt 1948, I. Kelley 302 (BH, US); Playa Azul, 5 Mar 1952, F. Ramirez s n (MEXU, US); Jesus Carranza, 25 Jul 1958, W. G. Williams, Jr. & Francoeur 79 (MICH, US); Minatitlan, 1 Aug 1958, King 1038 (MICH, US); Potrero del Llano, 10 Jun 1973, Hansen & Nee 1778 (US). Puebla: Tlacuilotepec, 20 Apr 1913, Salazar s n (US). Tabasco: Macuspana, Rio Chinal, 29 Sep 1944, Gilly & Hernandez Xolocotzi 385 (MEXU, US); Huimanguillo, 28 May 1963, Barlow 30/147 (LSU, US). Yucatan: Progreso, 7 Apr 1865, Schott 274 (F, US); Chichankanab, Gaumer 1267 (F ?); 1754 (F, US); Izamal, May 1916, Gaumer et al 23314 (F, GH, US); Chichen Itza, 29 Jun 1932, Steere 1646 (MICH). GUATEMALA. Peten: La Libertad, Apr 1933, Lundell 2549 (GH, MICH, US); 2553 (GH, MICH); 2828 (MICH); Tikal, 1959, Lundell 15413 (US). Alta Verapaz: Pancajche, Apr 1939, Standley 70641 (F); 92009 (F?); Lanquin, 21 Feb 1942, Steyermark 44058 (F, US). Izabal. Los Amates to Quirigua, Rio Motagua basin, 29 Mar 1940, Steyermark 38330 (F); Lago Izabal, 30 Apr 1966, G. C. Jones, Proctor & Facey 3200 (NY, US). BRITISH HONDURAS. Corozal: 1931-32, Gentle 493 (MICH). Belize: Belize, 23 Aug 1936, O'Neill 8513 (GH); Haulover, 25 Jun 1933, Lundell 3962 (MICH). El Cayo: Cocquericot, 20 Mar 1931, Bartlett 12075 (MICH). HONDURAS. Comayagua: Siguatepeque, 23 Jul 1964, Gilmartin 1002 (US). Tegucigalpa: km 70 Tegucigalpa to Zamorano, 11 Jul 1964, Gilmartin 963 (US). Yoro: Coyoles, 1 Jul 1938, Yuncker, Koepper & Wagner 8191 (GH, US). Atlantida: Lancetilla, 1929, Chickering 56 (GH). El Paraiso: Teupasenti, Apr 1963, Molina 11955 (EAP, US). NICARAGUA. Boaco: Camuapa to Comalapa, 10 May 1975, Neill N-141 (US). Chontales: Santo Tomas to Villa Somozo, 7 Apr 1961, Bunting & Licht 1125 (US). COSTA RICA. Guanacaste: Capalchi to La Cruz, 29 Jan 1909, Brenes s n (NY). PANAMA. Bocas del Toro: Isla Bastamentos, Chiriqui Lagoon, 6 Nov 1941, Wedel 2922 (GH, US). CO¬LOMBIA. Magdalena: Santa Marta, H. H. Smith 2768 (F, GH, NY); Fundacion, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Aug 1946, Foster & Smith 1623 (GH, US). VENEZUELA. Miranda: Steyermork 106868 (US, VEN). Zulia, Colon: Rio Escalante to Lago Maracaibo, 5 Sep 1967, Steyermork 100177 (US, VEN).

Local names. Xkeo (Mexico, Maya); papagaya (Nicaragua).

Aechmea bracteata var pacifica Beutelspacher, Cact. & Suculent. Mex. 16: 44, figs. 26, 27. 1971.
Aechmea laxiflora Bentham, Voy. Sulph. 173. 1846. Type. Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, Sinclair s n (BM, photo GH).
Hohenbergia laxiflora (Bentham) Baker in Saunders, Ref. Bot. 4: sub pI. 284, 3. 1871.
Plant flowering much less than 2 m high.
Inflorescence thyrsoid, usually bipinnate or slightly tripinnate at base;
primary bracts reduced gradually from base to apex of the inflorescence.
Type. Beutelspacher s n (holotype, MEXU 140559), El Rincon, 45 km from Chilpancingo toward Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, 26 Mar 1971.
Distribution. Epiphytic and sometimes saxicolous, 5-940 m alt, western Mexico, Costa Rica.
MEXICO. Sinaloa: Balboa, Jan 1923, Ortego 5066 (US); Los Tepesmesquites, 1925, Ortego 5719 (US). Nayarit: Acaponeta to Pedro Paulo, 2 Aug 1897, Rose 1933 (US); Acaponeta, 31 Jul1897 , Rose 3301 (US); San Blas, 8 Oct 1925, Ferris 5456 (US); Mazatan, Aug 1959, Feddemo 1129 (MICH, US); La Cucaracha, Las Varas, 20 Sep 1960, McVaugh 19232 (MICH, US). Jalisco: Quimixto, 30 Nov 1926, Mexio 1191 (GH, US). Hidalgo: Tatipam to Yahualica, 25 Apr 1891, Maury 5958 (GH). Michoacan: Aquila, Coalcoman, 30 Oct 1941, Hinton 16048 (GH, US). Colima: Manzanillo, 8 Aug 1938, Worth, Morrison & Horton 8615 (UCAL, US). Guerrero: La Correa, 27 Sep 1898 Langlasse 373 (GH, US); Vallecitos, Montes de Oca, 24 May 1937 , Hinton 10224 (GH, MEXU, US); 102384 (MEXU); Acahuizotla, km 339 to Acapulco, 31 Mar 1952, Moore & Valiente 6205 (BH, US). Chiapas: San Quintin, Laguna Miramar, 23 Mar 1955, Sohns 1711 (US). BRITISH HONDURAS. Corozal: 1931-32, Gentle 4930 (MICH). Belize: Maskall, 10 Mar 1934, Gentle 1242 (GH). Toledo: Camp 34, British Honduras-Ouatemala boundary survey, 18 Apr 1934, Schipp S-806 (GH); Joe Taylor Creek, 11 Sep 1951, Gentle 7434 (LL). COSTA RICA. San Jose: San Isidro de el General to Dominical, 2 Mar 1966, L. B. Smith & Dodson 15309 (US).

Aechmea bracteata (Sw.) Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 592. 1864. detail from McVaugh in Flora Nova Galiciana 1989
Bromelia bracteata Sw.prodr. Veg/ Ind. Occ. 56. 1788.
Aloe americana, arboribus innascens; foliis latis, membranaceis, ad margines spinosis Houstoun, Reliq. Houstoun. 7. pl. 16. 1781.

According to Smith (in Smith & Downs, 1979), this species comprises two varieties, separated as follows:
1. Flowering plant to more than 2 m high; inflorescence usually thrice compound; bracts abruptly reduced above the base of the inflorescence; Atlantic slope of Mexico, Central America, northern South America. => var. bracteata.
1. Flowering plant much less than 2 m high; inflorescence usually twice compound (or a few basal branches themselves twice compound); bracts gradually reduced from base to apex of inflorescence. => var. pacifica.
The var. bracteata (Bromelia bracteata Sw., as to type) apparently does not occur in Nueva Galicia. Swartz (1788), apparently in error, reported it from Jamaica, with the somewhat ambiguous reference, "Aloe americana arboribus adnascens. C. msc. 35. fig." Swartz later (Fl. Ind. Occ. 1: 583. 1797) cited :`Houst. reliq. t. 16" in synonymy, and gave the locality as follows: "Provenit in rupestribus Jamaicae et Mosquito Shore. (HOUSTON)." The holotype, according to Smith (in Smith & Downs, 1979), is a specimen from Veracruz (Houstoun, BM).
Aechmea bracteata var. pacifica Beutelspacher, Cact. Suc. Mex. 16: 44. figs. 26, 27. 1971.
Aechmea laxiflora Benth. Bot. Voy. Sulph. 173. 1846.
On rocks and trees, mostly in tall subdeciduous forest, in ravines and rocky stream-valleys on the Pacific slope, 100-1000 m, flowering and fruiting Sep-Apr. Sin., Nay., Jal., Col., Mich., Gro. (El Rincon, 45 km {S} of Chilpancingo, Beutelspacher, MEXU, the holotype; Acapulco, Sinclair, BM, holotype of A. laxiflora), Hgo., Chis.; Centr. Amer.
San Blas (Ferris 5456); between Mazatan and Las Varas (Feddema 1129); "12-13 mi" S of Las Varas (McVaugh 19232); El Cuatante, 40 km NNE of Puerto Vallarta (Feddema 2608); N of Las Palmas (Ornelas U. 303, IBUG; McVaugh 25579); Mpio. Cabo Corrientes, above El Tuito (McVaugh 26362); 10-13 km SE of El Tuito (McVaugh 25457); region of Chamela (various collectors, MEXU, cited by Magana, not seen); Mpio. V. de Purificacion, La Rinconada (Garcia Pelayo s.n., IBUG); 12 km from Manzanillo (Worth et al. 8615); ca 5 km N of Pihuamo (McVaugh & Koelz 1392); Sierra de Manantlan oriental, 780-820 m, between Cuautitlan and Ayotitlan (Cochrane et al. 10929, WIS); Aquila (Hinton 16048).

Leaves about 20, 30-50 (-100) cm long, crowded in a dense vase-shaped rosette, sheaths elliptic, inflated, lepidote,
blades ligulate, acuminate to rounded and apiculate, coriaceous, 3-10 cm wide, pale yellowish green, coarsely repand-serrate, the teeth up to 1 cm long;
inflorescence paniculate, much branched, often 30-60 cm long, weak and often pendent;
scape-bracts lanceolate, entire, usually imbricated, red;
spikes spreading, loosely 4-17-flowered;
floral bracts broadly ovate, 5-8 mm long, entire;
flowers sessile;
sepals strongly asymmetrical, 3-4 mm long;
petals linear, up to 1 cm long, yellow;
stamens included;
ovary broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, enlarged in fruit, white-pubescent; ovules borne near the top of the ovary, caudate.

AECHMEA BRACTEATA - Bromel Giant of Olancho, Honduras by Clarence Kl. Horich in BSB 7:88-9. 1957
Olancho, the remote and little known Department (county), northeast in Honduras, C. A., is not only the gateway to the as yet unexplored barbarous Mosquitia, but is, at the same time, the gateway to the "Wild West" where a man without sixshooters, is either beyond imagination, or is a foreigner from the 20th century.
Uninhabited in the deep south and east, the Department of Olancho can be reached by following the one and only existent, and by the way, bad road poking into its wastes which leads from Tegucigalpa over Talanga and Guaimaca to Juticalpa, the small capital of the ill-famed Department. Further northeast, a road team is at present working day and night to convert the stretch along the rivers Telica, Jutiquil, Catacamas, from a mule trail into a passable one for motorized traffic.
The western boundary of the Department of Francisco Morazan, Km. 112 on the road Tegucigalpa-Juticalpa, is mountainous and covered by vast pine forests, practically bare of epiphytes save for the odd Tillandsia butzii and some Jacquiniella globosa, orchids. Greater savannas and then jungles commence at the entrance to the Valle de Lempaguare exactly at the point where the road crosses the Rio Guayape; and from here on, epiphytes become frequent, although small in number of species Schomburgkia Wendlandii, Brassavola nodossa and Diacriums are the more abundant orchids of this formation, and four or five species of rather common Tillandsias, particularly, T. butzii, are their bromel companions.
It is no wonder then, that the huge plants of Aechmea bracteata, with their three foot, red-bracted peduncles, draw one's attention immediately wherever they grow. Ae. bracteata is the rarest bromeliad of the entire area and is scattered in singular groups throughout locations which often lie miles apart. Here they perch on gigantic Ceiba trees and the majority of these Aechmeas appear to be concentrated to those trunks which directly frame the river shores; -in other words, where there prevails a maximum of aerial humidity.
Although the bulk of Aechmea bracteata is native to Olancho's hot jungles and great river systems, it is also to be found at great intervals in the Department of Francisco Morazan, such as along the Rio Jalan, with its southwestern limits of distribution at Km. 60, a few miles northeast of Talanga where a single isolated plant has found refuge. The altitude of its home around Olancho lies, generally between 600 and 800 meters above sea level. I found it during the month of September 1956 in the river shore jungles of the rivers Guayape, Juticalpa, Telica and along nearly all of the innumerous small rivers, creeks and brooks, including those of the lower pine belt, between the towns of Guaimaca (Dept. of Fr. Morazan) and Jutiquile, Olancho's bandit hangout, through (and not over) which the mentioned disguise of a "road" leads.
If this bromel is rare it surely makes up for this minor handicap in the struggle of the fittest by sheer size. The oldest specimens are often a full four feet tall and reach diameters of up to and exceeding six feet by developing dozens of giant suckers. These carry gallons of water, indeed, and not only defend themselves by means of very hard and painfully long thorns, but additionally include regular zoological gardens, meaning hideouts of arboreal frogs which deposit their eggs in these huge water tubes of the Aechmea as well as all sorts of lizards, geckos and snakes which favor the frogs and their tadpoles as a menu.
The plants are gorgeous and exceedingly showy, even if not in flower. They are subject to temperatures that lie between 75° F. and 90° F, and also to a rainy season which brings heavy showers daily from May to November, after which the dry period sets in, lasting for six months straight.
Its natural environments suggest that Aechmea bracteata should be cultivated in rather warm and bright conditions. It is a tough, leathery fellow which should create no difficulties in respect to its successful cultivation, if you can spare much space for just one bromeliad!

Protologue
40. Aechmea regularis Baker, n. sp. Jour. Bot. London 17: 229. 1879.
Leaves with a dilated utricular oblong base three inches broad and a horny lorate cuspidate lamina, one foot and a half to two feet long, one inch and a half to two inches broad at the middle, with copious spreading lanceolate horny prickles one-eighth to one-sixth of an inch long.
Scape above a foot long, with several large lanceolate bract-leaves, the upper ones red.
Flowers in a dense oblong bipinnate panicle six to eight inches long, three inches broadl, with spreading nearly straight square spicate branches, the lower ones six to eight-flowered, and subtended by red lanceolate bracts above an inch long.
Flower-bracts deltoid-navicular, a quarter of an inch long inclusive of a short cusp.
Calyx including ovary one-third of an inch long; ovary globose;
sepals deltoid, as long as the ovary, not mucronate.
Petals cream-white, twice as long as the sepals.
South Brazil, Weir ! I have only seen this in a living state in the collection of Mr. Wilson Saunders. A drawing of it was made for the 'Refugium,' but it has not yet appeared.

From Baker 1889
8. AE. SCHIEDEANA Schlecht. in Linnaea, xviii. 437.
Ae. macracantha Brong. Inedit.; Le Bele in Ill. Hort. 1880, 59 (M.D.)
Leaves about 20 in a rosette, lorate from an ovate base, 2-3 ft. long, 2-3 in. broad at the middle, rigid in texture, plain green on the channelled face, thinly white-lepidote, not banded on the back, deltoid-cuspidate at the tip, the marginal teeth deltoid-cuspidate, large and spreading.
Peduncle 2 ft. long; upper bract-leaves large, erect, bright red.
Inflorescence a tripinnate panicle. 1½ ft. long;
rachises pubescent; lower branches remote, patent, 4-5 in. long, subtended by large red lanceolate branch-bracts;
branchlets spicate;
flower-bracts ovate acuminate, ¼ - 1/3 in. long.
Calyx with ovary nearly as long as the flower-bract;
sepals ovate, acute; ovaryglobose, yellow.
Petals pale yellow, shortly protruded.
Berry green, finally black, the size of a pea.
Hab. Mountains of central Mexico, Schiede & Deppe, Liebmann 26-30, Karwinski. Described mainly trom Morren's drawing made from a plant flowered by Dr. Le Bele at Mans in 1880, and a specimen at Paris dried by Brogniart in 1870.

16. AE. BARLEEI Baker in Gard. Chron. 1888, i. 102.
Leaves 8-10 in a utricular rosette, lanceolate from an ovate base, 2-3 ft. long, 1½ -2 in. broad at the middle, horny in texture, pale green on the channelled face, thinly white-lepidote without bands on the back, narrowed gradually to the point, the lower- marginal spines ¼ in. long.
Peduncle erect, 1-1½ ft. long;
upper bract-leaves red, lanceolate, spreading.
Inflorescence a lax panicle ½ ft. long, 2 ½- 3 in. broad;
rachis stiff, white-pubescent;
branches all simple, laxly 6-8-flowered;
flower-bracts ovate, greenish,. ¼ in. long.
Sepals lanceolate, not mucronate;
ovary globose, black, with a little white tomentum.
Petals primrose-yellow, exserted 1/6 in.
Hab. British Honduras. Introduced to Kew by Governor Barlee in 1877.

29. AE. REGULARIS Baker in Journ. Bot. 1879, 229.
Leaves with a dilated utricular base and a lorate horny cuspidate lamina 1 ½ -2 ft. long, 1½-2 in. broad at the middle, with copious spreading horny prickles 1/8 – 1/6 in. long.
Peduncle above a foot long;
upper bract-leaves large, bright red.
lnflorescence a dense oblong bipinnate panicle 6-8 in. long;
branches numerous, spreading, spicate, 1-1 ½ in. long, 6-8-flowered, the lower subtended by large red lanceolate branch-bracts;
flower-bracts coriaceous, ovate-cuspidate, ¼ in. Iong.
Calyx with ovary 1/3 in. long;
sepals ovate, not distinctly mucronate, much shorter than the ovary.
Petals twice as long as the sepals.
Hab. South Brazil. Collected by Weir. Described from a plant flowered by Mr. Wilson Saunders at Reigate, in Sept., 1871. Allied to Ae. suaveolens.

79. AE BRACTEATA Griseb. Fl. Brit. West. Ind. 592
Bromelia bracteata, Swartz, Prodr. Fl. Ind. Occ. 56.
Hohenbergia bracteata Baker in Ref. Bot. sub t. 284
Leaves 12-20 in a utricular rosette, lorate from an oblong base, 2 in. broad at the middle, not horny, plain green on both sides, deltoid-cuspidate at the tip, the marginal teeth middle-sized, with a brown-black tip.
Peduncle about a foot long;
bract-leaves large, lanceolate; upper more or less sprcading, bright red.
Inflorescence a dense panicle 6-9 in. long, with numerous, erecto-pateut densely-flowered distichous branches 2-3 in. long, subtended by lanceolate bracts;
rachis excavated so as to form a cap opposite each flower, which is subtended by an ovate-navicular cuspidate entire bract ½ in. long.
Ovary globose;
sepals lanceolate, ½ in. long, with a small erecto-patent mucro.
Petals yellow, shortly protruded.
Hab. West Indies. Jamaica, Swartz ! St. Lucia, Anderson ! H. B. Murray ! St. Vincent's, Guilding ! Trinidad, Prestoe ! This is now in cultivation at Kew, and flowered in 1885.

Protologue
Aechmea isabellina Baker, Jour. Bot. London 28: 305. 1890.
Aechmea (Hohenbergia) isabellina, n. sp.
Leaves lorate, 2 ft. or more long, 2-2 ½ in. broad, moderately firm, glabrous above, thinly lepidote beneath; apex deltoid-cuspidate; marginal spines large and pungent, lower 1/6 in. long.
Peduncle stout, 1 ½ ft. long, with few larege ascending scariose lanceolate bract-leaves.
Inflorescence a narrow panicle 2 ft. long, with numerous short simple deflexed branches 1-2 in. long;
lower branches much longer and bipinnate, subtended by large red lanceolate bract-leaves;
rachis densely pubescent;
flowers laxly disposed;
flower-bracts ovate-acuminate, ¼ in. long.
Sepals ovate, imbricated, 1/6 in. long, not distinctly cuspidate, rather longer than the globose ovary.
Petals protruded, 1/8 in. probably yellow.
Hab. Boca del Polochie, dept. Ysabel, alt. 200 ft. Donnell-Smith 1824! Intermediate between Ae. laxiflora Benth. and pyramidalis Benth.

From Mez 1935
55. Ae. bracteata (Sw.) Mez (non Griseb.) in DC. Monogr. Phaner. IX. (1896) 232.
Bromelia bracteata Sw. Prodr. (1788) 56 et Fl. Ind. occ. I. (1797) 583.
Aechmea Schiedeana Schlechtdl. in Linnaea XVIII. (1844) 437.
Ae. Barleei Bak. in Gard. Chron. 1880, I. 102; Witte in Gartenfl. XLI. (1892) 359, fig. 78. Ae. regularis Bak. in Journ. Bot: n. s. VIII.(1879) 229.
Ae. isabellina Bak. in Journ. Bot. XXVIII. (1890) 305.
Ae. laxiflora Bak. (non Benth.) Bromel. (1889) 37, pro maxima parte.
Hohenbergia laxiflora Bak. in Saund. Ref. Bot. IV. (1871) sub t. 284, e. p.
Hoplophytum panniculatum Beer, Bromel. (1857) 130 e. p.
? Tillandsia spinosa Sesse et Moc. Fl. Mex. 2. ed. (1894) 81.
Aloe Amcricana arboribus innascens etc. Rel. Houston. ed. Banks, t. 16.
Folia ad 20 quam maxime utriculatim rosulata, exteriora mediaque reflexa apicibusque revoluta, linearia, apice longe acuta et in spinam desinentia, margine spinis maximis saepius ad 10 mm longis, pallidis horrida, ad 0,7 m longa et super vaginam 0,1 m lata, laete viridia, haud vittata. Vaginae scapales integerrimae. Inflorescentia multiflora, aut thyrsoidea aut (ramis infimis saepius iterum divisis elongatisque) pyramidalis, ample 2-3-pinnatim panniculata e ramulis omnibus fertilibus, 8-4-floris, per anthesin patentibus vel recurvis composita, ad 0,4 m longa et 0,1 m diam. metiens, albido-arachnoidea; bracteis florigeris parvis nec flores involventibus, patentibus, e basi late ovata in acumen tenuiter aciculosum productis, ad 6 mm longis, integerrimis, margine cum axi haud connatis. Flores sessiles, ad 14 mm longi; sepalis liberis, triangulo-ovatis, valde asymmetricis, breviter mucronulatis. Petala pallide lutescentia, usque ad 10 mm longa, apice haud mucronata, 3 mm supra basin ligulata. Filamenta ser. II. basi petalis breviter cohaerentia; antheris vix 1,5 mm longis. Ovarium plus minus albo-pubescens, ad 4 mm longum; placentis loculis apice affixis; ovulis subpaucis, caudatis. Mexico: bei Hacienda Laguna (Schiede), bei Papantla (Karwinski, Liebmann n. 29), bei Mirador (Liebmann n. 28, 30), bei Veracruz (Houston, Gouin). Yucatan: bei Merida (Schott n. 891). Guatemala, Dept. Ysabel, Boca del Polochic (Donnell- Smith n. 1824), ohne Standortsangabe (Watson n. 460). Honduras (Gaumer n. 419, Robertson n. 232, Niederlein n. 47). Nicaragua, Mosquito-Reservation (Miller). Costarica, bei Segovia (Oersted n. 26). - Haufig in Kultur.

56. Ae. macracantha Brongn. ap. Le Bele in Ill. Hortic. XXVII. (1880) 59; Witte in Gartenfl. XLIII. (1894) 174, fig.46.
Folia ad 15 utriculum minus conspicuum formantia, Omnia arcuatim recurvata nec apice revoluta, late linearia, apice mucrone minuto imposito subrotundata vel brevissime acuta, spinis brunneis, distantibus, vix ultra 5 mm longis armata, plantae junioris tota vinoso-rubentia, senioris triste viridia et praesertim dorso dilute vinoso-brunnescenter maculata, ad 0,4 m longa et 60 mm lata, haud vittata. Vaginae scapales integerrimae. Inflorescentia submulti- vel multiflora, apicem usque laxiuscule vel densius 2-3-pinnatim panniculata subthyrsoidea, breviter acuta, e ramulis omnibus fertilibus, ad 12-floris, patentibus vel inferioribus recurvis composita, ad 0,3 m longa et 0,15 m diam. metiens, minute albido-pubescens mox glabrata; bracteis florigeris ad 6 mm longis, flores haud involventibus, patentibus, e basi late ovata in acumen aciculosum productis, integerrimis, margine liberis. Flores sessiles, ad 11 mm longi; sepalis liberis, triangulo-ovatis, valde asymmetricis, minute mucronulatis. Petala lutescentia, sepalis ad 7 mm longiora. Ovarium ad 4 mm longum, minute albo-pubescens; ovulis loculis apice affixis; subpaucis, caudatis.
Mexico: staat Michoacan, bei La Correa (Langlasse n. 373) - unbekannt, wann und durch wen in Kultur gebracht; ich habe die Art aus dem Leidener Garten erhalten.

Aechmea pittieri Mez, DC. Monogr. Phan. 9: 231.1896.
Desc from S&D
Leaves to over 1 m long;
Sheaths unknown;
Blades ligulate, acuminate, pungent, 75 mm wide, lepidote especially below, laxly spinose-serrate with stout, nearly straight, brown-tipped teeth to 1 cm long.
Scape erect, stout, white-tomentulose;
Scape-bracts erect, tubular-involute, densely imbricate, lance-elliptic, pungent, entire or rarely with a few teeth, bright-red.
Inflorescence paniculate, laxly tripinnate, pyramidal, 33 cm long, 20 cm in diameter; axes tomentulose at first, soon glabrous;
Primary bracts like the scape-bracts, the lower about half as long as the axillary branches, the upper much reduced;
Branches all fertile throughout, subspreading, long-stipitate with the spikes clustered at the end;
Secondary bracts barely larger than the floral bracts;
Spikes laxly about 10-flowered, linear in outline, up to 1 dm long; rhachis strongly geniculate, complanate, excavated next the flowers.
Floral bracts erect, suborbicular, broadly rounded with a mucro 2 mm long at the apex, 10 mm long including the mucro, 9 mm wide, only one to one and half times as long as the internodes, exceeding the sepals, entire, prominently nerved, minutely white-arachnoid, soon glabrous, the margin free from the rhachis;
Flowers appressed to the rhachis.
Sepals barely asymmetric, 4 mm long, minutely mucronate, white-tomentulose especially toward the base, free;
Petals 10 mm long, not mucronate, pink-purple, bearing 2 fimbriate scales high above the base;
Stamens much shorter than the petals, the filaments of the second series much adnate to the petals, the anthers narrow, 1.5 mm long, mucronulate; pistil about equaling the petals,
Ovary 3-angled. the epigynous tube very short;
Type. Tonduz 6609 (holotype, BR; photo GH), Boruca, near Buenos Aires, Costa Rica.
Distribution. Epiphytic, near sea level to 400 m alt, Costa Rica.
COSTA RICA. Puntarenas: Golfo Dulce, 1 Dec 1949, Allen 5376 (US); Buenos Aires, 9° 09' N, 83° 19' W, 26 Jan 1967, Burger & Marta U. no.4673 (F, US).

Protologue
Aechmea pittieri Mez, DC. Monogr. Phan. 9: 231. 1896.
49. Ae. Pittieri; vaginis scapalibus integerrimis; inflorescentia laxe tripinnatim panniculata, ramulis omnibus fertilibus, quam maxime geniculatis, flores peradpressos ± 10 gerentibus ; bracteolis florigeris suborbicularibus, permanifeste spinulosis, integerrimis, margine cum axi haud connatis; floribus sessilibus, ad 11 mm, longis; sepalis liberis, apice minutissime mucronulatis; petalis haud mucronatis, peralte ligulatis ; ovario dense niveo-tomentoso, placentis loculis apice affixis; ovulis paucis, perlonge caudatis.
Folia vagina ignota perrigida, latissime linearia, apicem versus sensim acuta demum in spinem validissime pungentem desinentia, ± 75 m. longa, 75 mm. lata, margine spinis maximis, usque ad 10 mm. longis, apice brunnescentibus, rectis patentibusque horrida, utrinque sed praecertim subtus permanifeste lepidota. Scapus validus, erectus, albo-tomentellus, dense vaginis pulcherrime rubentibus, elliptico-lanceolatis, pungenti-acutis, margine raro paucidentatis, tubulose erectis indutus, Inflorescentia ~ -flora, amplissima laxe panniculata, ± 0,4 m. longa, 0,2 m. diam. metiens, apice obtusa; axibus primum tomentellis demum glabratis, florigeris quamn maxime regulariter undulatis, subexcavatim complanatis; bracteolis florigeris minute albo-arachnoideis mox glabratis, stricte erectis, valde prominenti-venosis, suborbicularibus, apice optime rotundatis impositeque spinula vix 2 mm. longa auctis, ± 7 mm. longis, 9 mm. latis, sepala permanifeste superantibus. Sepala dorso praesertim basin versus niveo-tomentella, ad 4 mm. longa, haud egregie asymmetrica. Petala ± 10 mm. longa, ligulis plumose fimbriatis. Stamina petalis permanifeste breviora; filamentis ser. ll. cum petalis altiuscule connatis; antheris tenuissimis, 1,5 mm. longis, apice peracutis mucronulatisque, in l/3 longis, dorsifixis. Ovarium quam maxime triangulare, ± 3 mm. longum, apice manifestissime constrictum; tubo epigyno brevissimo; stylo petala subaequante. Fructus ignotus. Costarica, ad Boruca, truncicola : Tonduz. n. 4830, prope Buenos-Aires : n. 6609.-Floret Januario. (V. s. in herb. Bruxell.)

Updated 15/05/21