Guzmania brasiliensis
Content
Description
Plant flowering up to 1.5 m long, with a dense, 60-75 cm tall rosette of manylustrous green leaves. Leaves thin-coriaceous, 40-75 cm long, much shorter than, to equaling the inflorescence; sheaths distinct, tapering into the blades, oblong, 13-20 x 5-8 cm, with broad membranaceous margins, densely and minutely appressed-lepidote on both sides, pale-brown to dark castaneous at the base; blades arching, linear or ligulate, 26-60 x 2.5-4 cm, long attenuately acute or acuminate, sparsely appressed-lepidote outside and often less lepidote to subglabrous inside. Inflorescence simple or laxly compound of about 4 spikes, 70-100 cm long; scape erect, 40-65 cm long, 6-8 mm in diam., sparsely pale-brown floccose or subglabrous, nearly entirely covered by bracts; scape bracts erect, the lower ones subfoliaceous and densely imbricate, the upper ones more ovate, acuminate, about equaling the internodes, but so narrow as to expose the scape partly, subdensely appressed-lepidote to subglabrous; axis ample, almost straight, angled; primary bracts as the upper scape bracts, loosely sheathing, and exceeding the peduncle; peduncle 1-2.5 cm long, halfway bearing a prophyl-like bract; spikes spreading, ovoid to cylindric, often lax at the base, 4-15(-23) x 3-4 cm (apical spike about twice as long as the axillary ones), acutish or obtuse, polystichously 10-35(-58)-flowered, with one or a few reduced sterile bracts at the apex; rachis for most part visible, almost straight, angled; floral bracts clasping the flowers, thin, with veined surface, ovate, 1.3-2.7 cm long, the lower ones about twice as long as the internodes, equaling the sepals, or much exceeded by them, attenuately subacute or apiculate, ecarinate (thickened at the extreme apex), obscurely and minutely lepidote or pale brown-floccose. Flowers spreading or the upper ones (immature) contiguous, sessile; receptacle cuneate, 3-4 mm long, angled; sepals coriaceous, with veined surface, lanceolate, 1.8-2.3 cm long, with narrow membranaceous margins, long attenuately acute, evenly short (2-3 mm) connate, posterior ones bluntly carinate in lower half, sparsely appressed-lepidote on both sides, with somewhat floccose brown-centered scales; petals thin, ca. 3 cm long, the free lobes (blades) spreading, obovate, 1.2-1.4 cm long, white; stamens slightly shorter then the petals, about equaling or slightly shorter than the pistil, filaments highly adnate to the petal-tube, free part less fragile, flattened, anthers dorsifixed (at 1/3), linear-sagittate, 4.5-5 mm long, short basal lobes and apex obtuse; ovary ovoid, tapering into the slender style, stigma lobed. Capsule cylindric, 3-3.5 cm long, much exceeding the bracts, short-beaked; coma pale reddish-brown.