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the underside, acting like a backbone to give ri• tions, there is little chance to become familiar with gidity. Marginal spines, approximately 2 mm long, it except by studying plants in the Huntington Bo• are almost straight. The original description states tanical Garden Conservatory or in other botanical that the spines curve toward the leaf-base, but in gardens. my experience this is true only of the basal por• This bromeliad has an undeserved reputation tion of the leaf, while from the middle of the leaf for being difficult to grow. It apparently does not the spines begin to hook towards the apex. The do well if kept in 6-inch pots of humusy soil in scaly coating on the leaves has distinct and beau• the humid, warm greenhouse conditions so fa• tiful spine impressions on both the top and the vored by mesophytic Cryptanthus species. In• bottom that look a bit like zippers. stead, C. warasii thrives with warm sunny days, The inflorescence is nestled in the center of the cool nights, and plenty of air circulation, in a 4 or rosette. It consists of about 20 flowers arranged in 5 inch pot filled with cactus-type soil mixed with fascicles of 2 or 3- Spineless floral bracts about 11 about 50 percent pumice or perlite. Frequent mm long, glabrous above and scaly below, equal spring and summer fertilization with a dilute so• the length of the sepals. The petals are white to lution of a balanced fertilizer produces a plant that off-white, slightly longer than the sepals, and re• does credit to the grower. curve at anthesis. Stamens are exserted at anthesis. This charming plant presents two challenges. Before flowering, the rosette is upright and flar• The first challenge is to find one, the second is to ing. The leaves gradually recurve until, after flow• grow it successfully. ering, the plant flattens out and produces a few pups on stolons. As with other terminal-flowering References bromeliads, the parent plant dies and the offspring Pereira, E. 1986. Species novae in Brasilia bromeliacer- begin a new cycle. um. Cryptanthus Soc. J. 11:5-9. Translated and re• When not in flower, it could be difficult to guess printed from Bradea, Bol. Herb. Bradeanum 2(36): that C. warasii is indeed a cryptanthus and be• 1978. longs to the subfamily Bromelioideae instead of Rauh, W. 1990. Description of Cryptanthus leopoldo- the Pitcairnioideae, as do the puyas, dyckias, hech- horstii. Cryptanthus Soc. J. 5(2): 15. Translated and tias and most other terrestrial xerophytic brome• reprinted from W. Rauh, Bromelienstudien 20, Tro- liads. Since this species is rarely seen in collec• pische und Subtropische Pflanzenwelt 65, 1988.

ELZADA CLOVER—A COURAGEOUS SCIENTIST Dr. Elzada Urseba Clover (12 September 1897-2 November 1980) was a long-time faculty member at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She was named a CSSA Fellow on 14 September 1945 for her role as a writer, explorer and friend of the CSSA. Several of her articles have appeared in this journal, and she presented two programs at the first CSSA Convention, held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1941. Dr. Clover was the first to report in two articles in Rhodora (November 1932 and June 1933) that Astrophytum asterias had been found in the U.S. in Texas. Also in the same journal (March 1935) she described Echinocereus angusticeps, a new species from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. (It has since been reclassified as E. papillosus var. angusticeps.} A fine article, "The Cactaceae of Southern ," appeared in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (1938), as did "New species of cacti from Guatemala, Mexico and Texas" in the same year. In the American Journal of (1942), Dr. Clover published "A new species and variety of Sclerocactus from Arizona." In the June 1995 issue of Earth (Waukesha, Wisconsin), the editor published a letter from Hal H. King, Winchester, Virginia. Wrote King: "The videos reviewed in February 1995 got me wondering if anybody remembers mild-manned Dr. Elsipeth [sic] Clover of the University of Michigan. "In the mid-1930s Clover, a specialist on succulents, was the first woman known to make a trip down the Grand Canyon in a boat. She went to study indigenous cacti. The motion pictures she took may have been the first ever of a expedition. "It would be a crying shame if the films have been lost. They were not only a record of a 'first' but were an insight into the character and courage of a brave and dedicated scientist." Replied the editor: "The film is in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. Oc• casionally it is copied to videotape for educational use." Larry W. Mitich