DYCKIA. Central and South America. The dyckias are terrestrial bromeliads, closely allied to Puya. They produce interesting rosettes of stiff, pointed and spine-margined leaves. Ours have been mostly summer-blooming, bearing dense clusters of small, showy 6-parted blossoms, usually not opening widely, on erect branched stems. These are plants of exposed and arid places, though some are too tender for year-round cultivation outdoors here. They are showy specimens for open banks and other exposed sites, and for containers (though dividing them when they outgrow their pots is not a pleasant task).
‘Morris Hobbs’. This is one of the hardier selections, and certainly one of the most ornamental. The rosettes measure 1’ or more across. The leaves are narrow and tapering, thick and dark green in color, heavily tinged with purple when exposed to full sun. The marginal spines are thick, curved and greyish, forming striking margins around the leaves. The branched flower stalks rise 2-3’. Crowded, bright orange blossoms open in succession along the side shoots. Hardy to 20oF. or less.
species—aff. platyphylla. This came from the collection of the U.C. Botanical Garden. What we know about it is basically what we see before us. It makes low, prolifically clumping rosettes with broad, shiny green leaves, up to 1’ long, with short, stout spines. The few which have flowered have stems under 2’ high, with narrow many-flowered clusters of yellow-orange flowers. It appears to be hardy to 25oF. or less.