Racinaea lescaillei (C. Wright) M. A. Spencer & L. B. Sm.

Tillandsia lescaillei C. Wright; Sauv. Anal. Acad. Ci Habana8:53. 1871.
Stemless, 6-1 1 dm. in length; leaves forming a basal rosette 6-10 cm. thick, all erect, 25-30 cm. long; sheaths broad, elliptic, chestnut-brown, passing almost imperceptibly into the blades; blades evenly green, sublorate, 3-4 cm. Tidde; scape much surpassing the leaves, decurved; scape-bracts membranaceous, densely and finely pale-lepidote, apiculate, much shorter than the internodes and not wholly enfolding the scape; inflorescence pendulous at maturity, open, bipinnate and distichous, 25-55 cm. long, 10-20 cm. wide; primar3bracts not over 25 mm. long, narrow, apiculate; spikes linear in outline, 5-12 cm. long, about 10 mm. wide, with flowers closely erect and barely or not quite imbricate, often long-stipitate and bearing several sterile bracts at the base; rhachis somewhat flexuous; floral bracts 7-8 mm. long, about equaling the sepals, usually quite nerveless, soon glabrous, ecarinate; sepals asj'mmetric, obtuse; capsule cylindric, 18-23 mm. long.
Type locality: Monteverde, Oriente, Cuba. Distribution: Cuba and Hispaniola.