Uses, few, except as ornamental plants: Galanthus nivalis; Leucojum; Narcissus pseudonarcissus, N. poeticus, N. jonquilla, N. tazetta, etc.; Amaryllis, Alstrœmeria, Eucharis, Crinum, Vallota, etc. The vascular bundles of the various species of Agave (Agave rigida, var. sisalana, sisal hemp,) are used for cordage, etc.
Order 6. Bromeliaceæ. The flowers are hypogynous, epigynous or semi-epigynous; the perianth is divided into calyx and corolla; stamens 6. The fruit is a capsule or berry with many seeds. Endosperm mealy, embryo small, at the edge of the endosperm, but not enclosed by it.
Fig. 310.—Aechmea miniata.
Fig. 311.—Multiple-fruit of Ananassa sativa.
Perennial herbs with a very characteristic appearance (Fig. [310]); the stem is most often short, thick, and crowned by a rosette of many leaves, which are long, often very narrow, leathery, stiff, and with a spiny edge; they are usually channeled, completely closing round each other, with their edges forming a tightly closed hollow, in which generally water is collected (this among other things insulates the inflorescence and thus prevents the access of creeping insects, such as ants). The presence of numerous stellate, water-containing hairs often gives the leaves a grey appearance, and the layers of cells beneath the upper epidermis of the lamina form an “aqueous tissue,” which serves as a protection against the rays of the sun and regulates the evaporation. The stomata are often situated in furrows on the underside of the leaf, and hence cause a striped appearance. They are all American (525 species), especially from S. America, where they live partly as epiphytes on trees, partly in the clefts of rocks, often on the steepest slopes, to which they firmly attach themselves by aerial roots; some are terrestrial. The stem is seldom tree-like or many metres in height (Puya, in Chili; Hechtia, in Mexico). The inflorescence is a terminal spike, raceme, or panicle, often with large and brightly-coloured floral-leaves. The flowers are without scent. The seeds, in the species whose fruit is a capsule, are often provided with wings (hairs, expansions, etc).—Ananassa sativa, Pine-apple (W. Indies, Central America) is cultivated for the sake of its juicy, aromatic fruits, which coalesce with their fleshy bracts and form a large spike-like fruit-cluster (multiple-fruits,[29] Fig. [311]) bearing on its apex a leafy shoot, which may be used as a cutting. Seeds very rarely developed.—Tillandsia (T. usneoides is a filamentous, richly branched, rootless epiphyte hanging in masses from trees; Trop. Am.), Aechmea, Billbergia, Pitcairnia, etc.
Uses. The leaves of the Pine-apple, in its native country, are used for the manufacture of cloth.
Order 7. Hæmodoraceæ. 120 species; in all parts of the world except Europe; perennial, often tomentose and resembling the Bromeliaceæ, Iridaceæ and Amaryllidaceæ. Hæmodorum (Australia).—To this order belong Ophiopogon, Peliosanthes, Sanseviera, and others.
Order 8. The Iridaceæ have epigynous, hermaphrodite flowers with petaloid perianth as in the Amaryllidaceæ, but the interior whorl of stamens is entirely suppressed, and the 3 developed outer stamens have extrorse anthers (Fig. [279]); there is 1 style with 3 large, generally more or less leaf-like branches bearing the stigmas. Ovary and capsule as in the Amaryllidaceæ and Liliaceæ.—Perennial herbs; bulbs are rarely found, but horizontal rhizomes, corms, etc., take their place. The leaves are (except Crocus) as in the Iris, two-rowed, equitant and sword-like. Flowers or inflorescences terminal.