Pitcairnia moritziana K.Koch bis & Bouché

  • Authority

    Smith, Lyman B. & Downs, Robert J. 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 14 (1): 1-658. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bromeliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pitcairnia moritziana K.Koch bis & Bouché

  • Type

    TYPE. Moritz in Berlin Hortus s n (B, n v but probably the same origin as Moritz 1232).

  • Synonyms

    Pitcairnia klotzschiana Baker, Pitcairnia moritziana K.Koch bis & Bouché, Hepetis moritziana Mez

  • Description

    Description - Plant stemless, flowering 5 dm high. Leaves all alike, persistent, many, fasciculate, dilated above the sheath into a pseudosheath and then contracted but not petiolate; sheaths ovate, 25-35 mm long, dark brown; blades sublinear, filiform-attenuate, 5 dm long, 18 mm wide, serrate at base and sometimes toward apex, otherwise entire, glabrous above, densely allutaceous-furfuraceous beneath. Scape erect, slender, furfuraceous; scape-bracts exceeding the internodes, the lowest abruptly elliptic-dilated above an oblong base, the upper strict, triangular, attenuate. Inflorescence racemose or branched at base and very narrowly pyramidal, to 4 dm long, the axes sparsely furfuraceous; primary bracts scarcely larger than the floral bracts; branches erect, few-flowered with a sterile base 8 cm long. Floral bracts spreading or subspreading, lance-ovate or lance-triangular, acuminate, the lowest 15-25 mm long, equaling or exceeding the pedicels, the highest about half as long; flowers suberect, red; pedicels to 15 mm long, slender, sparsely tomentellous. Sepals triangular, attenuate, 19 mm long, ecarinate, glabrous or subglabrous; petals ligulate, obtuse, 52 mm long, bearing an entire scale; stamens included, anthers 7.5-8 mm long; ovary 3/5 superior; ovules short-caudate.

  • Distribution

    Terrestrial and saxicolous, dry woods and ledges, 200 m alt, north central Venezuela.

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