Encholirion
(from engchos, a spear, and Leirion, a Lily; in allusion to the habit of the genus). SYN. Prionophyllum. ORD. Bromeliaceae. A genus embracing about half-a-dozen species of stove, perennial herbs, natives of Brazil. Flowers in a terminal, simple or slightly branched, long, dense raceme; sepals free, short, ovate, imbricated; petals much longer, free, narrow, erect or somewhat spreading from the base; stamens free, the filaments filiform. Leaves rosulate, long, narrow, rigid, generally spinulose-serrated. For culture of the plants introduced, see Tillandsia, on p. 41.
E. corallinum (coral-flowered). fl. numerous, on an erect scape longer than the leaves; sepals yellowish or greenish, thick, shining, exuding a diaphanous, gummy substance; petals pale yellow, longer than the sepals; bracts purple-violet, foliaceous, half-amplexicaul. l. quite entire, canaliculate, obtuse, mucronate, 1 1/2ft. long. 2in. broad, glaucous-violet below, and with a greenish-blue tint above transversely marked with dark, wavy lines. (I. H. xviii. 70.) E. c. splendens (splendid). l. more compact, more obtuse, and broader than in the type. 1885.
E. roseum variegatum (rosy-variegated). l. striped with yellowish bands. 1884. An ornamental plant, of garden origin.