Newsletter
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From Newsletter 71 - March 2014
The first part of the newsletter concerns the programme for the Spring Meeting of the BCG in the conservatory of the Botanical Gardens on the Harvardlaan in Utrecht on April 6th. Further details are in the Dutch language newsletter on this site.
Lastly, there was the announcement of a guided tour of the recently renovated Hortus Botanicus in Leiden on the morning of Saturday May 24th to be given by BCG member Art Vogel, who was formerly in charge of the greenhouses of the Hortus,. The tour will be limited to members and, if there is room, their introducées.
The programme will include a presentation by Hans and Bep van der Hoeven about their travels in Costa Rica.
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Text: Roel Tomassen
Bromeliad Portraits II
Tillandsia mollis
The first two photographs are of Tillandsia mollis, described in 1983 and a close relative of Tillandsia usneoides. We have two forms, one that grows out more loosely with rather longer stems (see photos) and is more common in cultivation, while the second form remains more compact (stems shorter than the leaves) and also has rather longer and thicker leaves. The two forms flower identically and I tested the pollen for germination. It is noticeable that the pollen grains are very small but they are regular in both shape and size. They germinate well, indicating that this is not a hybrid.
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Aechmea alba
This is the first time this species flowered for us. We got it from Marcelo Sellaro (Kew Gardens) as Aechmea pabstii, coming from Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil at about sea-level. It grows there in the leaf litter on the ground under small trees and palms. The species belongs to the subgenus Macrochordion, like the better-known Aechmea bromeliifolia. It has a pretty, light green, not very large, closed, leaf rosette, which is certainly worth growing.
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Aechmea purpureorosea
The species shown above is another very attractive one, particularly because of its showy tubular rosette with narrow leaves with black-spines. This species also comes from Brazil but has a somewhat larger range than the previous species, namely Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara and is easy to grow.
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Tillandsia purpurascens
This plant from Knize (Peru) is conspicuously powdered with white. This large species, described by Rauh in 1990, grows on steep hillsides in Piura province and has firm, fleshy leaves. In cultivation, the inflorescence is rather pale compared with the pictures taken in the wild by Rauh, which show it as deep red. Vegetatively, the plant closely resembles Tillandsia reversa, which was displayed and discussed during the BCG meeting of October 2010 and can be seen in the Gallery.
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Tillandsia piauiensis
Sometimes, as with this plant, you need patience. I bought it more than 20 years ago in Germany from Bludau Nursery. Initially it had two rosettes but now there is only one left. This species, from Pernambuco, Piau (Brazil), was only described in 2012 (see Die Bromelie) and was then compared with Tillandsia chapeuensis, described in 1986, which is closely related to Tillandsia gardneri and for which a spectacular new variety Tillandsia chapeuensis var. turriformis was described recently
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Vriesea platynema
We know Vriesea platynema from The Guianas as a green, unspectacular species but in Brazil we see attractive, coloured varieties like the one shown below that came from the Grande do Sul and that we got from Peter Bak in 2012. The species is highly variable, also as to leaf colour. This particular plant has dark green leaves with purple-tinted undersides and with irregular, indistinct streaks (brindle) but very nicely coloured rosettes with far clearer cross-streaking and dark leaf points are also known.
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Text and editing: Eric Gouda
Translation: MaryRose Hoare
Bijgewerkt: 20140404, 6345 keer bekeken
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