For those who have not read my articles over the years this particular problem is awfully similar to one revolving around a plant called xNiduregelia 'Ruby Ryde' which took over TEN years of discovering new bits or finding new descriptions for me to make up my mind with lots of changes in between!
Taking plants to pieces is exciting because you always seem to find something that you have not seen before. In this case I got Maureen to send the inflorescence to Birgit Rhode who has a great technique in being able to photograph plant parts at very close range. These days I find it harder and harder to use a microscope to see detail and rely on the computer scanners magnifying ability to help me see what is there. Birgit's facilities are much better than mine. So here we had Birgit taking bits off and sending me photographs. We all know that in Bromeliads every floral bract has a flower behind it but what if the flower had aborted? We all know that at the bottom of every spike or branch of an inflorescence there is a primary bract. When the branch has only one or two flowers, things get messy. In this case, Birgit reported "What a can of bracts!" We were able to discern that we were dealing with a tripinnate inflorescence. In other words branches on branches, which we were looking for in Canistropsis selloana. We also had rigid angled primary bracts which agreed too, AND we must not forget the certain wooliness of the trichomes of the floral bract.
In fact all indications were that we were dealing with a Canistropsis selloana which as Elton Leme pointed out likes to grow in extra wet conditions. We do not know how Maureen got her plant although she is an impulsive seed raiser of seed from overseas.
I leave the doubtful comment till last.
Canistropsis selloana has been treated in the past as a Quesnelia, an Andrea and a Nidularium and seems uncomfortable in its current genus! So much so, that while we were taking 'Karamea Sello' to pieces Brown & Leme were busy transferring selloana back to Andrea, see - Gregory K. Brown & Elton M. C. Leme in Taxon 54(1): 63-70. 2005
However, it has always been known for the petals to open up at anthesis as with all other Canistropsis. You may be like me who waited year after year for my Nidulariums to properly flower only to realise that the petals remain bent inwards to cover the sex parts. The photograph that Keith first sent me clearly showed this Nidularium phenomenon. Did we really have a xNidustropsis here and how would we prove that it is a bigeneric? The safest course may have been to call it Canistropsis aff selloana but we now had much more detail on Andrea selloana because of the Brown & Leme Paper (2005).
The hooded petals did concern me but Keith then sent me a photo where the petals had opened wide! Is this phenomenon caused by weather conditions? Or do the petals only open for a short time. Alas, I do not have the plant to do hourly checks but this particular plant seems more odd than most I get a chance to look at!
I was almost ready to accept this was the species Canistropsis selloana but the latest information from Brown & Leme gave even more data on the species which showed too many anomalies and alas I have had to resort to a Cultivar solution. It is certainly closer to the genus Andrea and I will be recording this as Andrea 'Karamea Sello'!
The chances of anyone from Australasia getting a 'true' Andrea selloana is very remote if the following comment by Elton Leme is anything to go by.
"Andrea selloana is endemic to the gallery forests above 1,000 m that transverse the campos rupestres of the Espinhaco range in the regions of Ouro Preto, Antonio Pereira, Santa Barbara and Santana do Riacho of Minas Gerais state. It is associated with stream margins where the plants only root in the fine. white quartz sand, often between rocks. but not on rocks (i.e., not epilithic) as previously reported (Leme, 1998). This specialized habitat may account at least in part. for the rarity of A. selloana."
"Andrea selloana may be threatened with extinction. It is only known to occur in a narrow, specialized habitat within a small area of Minas Gerais state in nearly extirpated primary vegetation, and the density in known populations is low. Furthermore. the species is difficult to cultivate (Leme. unpubl.) and lacks horticultural value: thus it is unlikely to persist in cultivation. Currently the two major threats to the gallery forests where A. selloana occurs are large-scale iron mining operations that rework or eradicate landscape features, and the high fire frequency."
Maureen reports that her plant seems to prefer it wet and shady which we understand she ensures by doing a 'rain dance' whenever it is needed!"
