"Baker in 1879 finally gave it the present name Aechmea fasciata after he had seen it flower for the first time in the Kew Gardens in 1878. This latter name has been accepted ever since by botanical authorities although, unfortunately, it is still grown and sold commercially in Europe as Billbergia rhodocyanea.
Thus, it may be quite possible that the mistaken name of Billbergia rubro-cyanea, listed and sold by the late Richard Atkinson of Leucadia, California, derived its name from the nearness to the original European name rhodocyanea. Unfortunately this mistaken name was applied to the true species of Billbergia saundersii now sold all over the United States as Billbergia rubro-cyanea. There never has been a billbergia with this species name in any bromeliad botanical work that I have ever seen.
Before the misnaming gains any greater momentum, it is hoped that the Bromeliad Society can and will extend every effort to keep this nomenclature as accurate as possible."
I have not been able to trace any further comment in the BSI publications.
In Bromeletter (The Australian Journal) #6 1972 we read a couple of paragraphs by Olwen Ferris; under 'Rubro-cyanea' (saundersii x nutans)
"The original "Rainbow Plant" (viz saundersii) of USA is a lovely tubular brownish green plant blotched white and crossbands with silver, taking on pinkish colouring in bright light. Inflorescence of red bracts and deep purple petals, the stem is covered with meal-like scales.
The hybrid grown in Australia has longer, pointed leaves that form a narrow tube. Grown in bright light, the white blotching takes on lovely shades of pink and red. Lovely red bracts and dark blue flowers. Is more hardy than B. saundersii"
At that time we, in Australia, were aware that at least the plant we had under the name of B. 'Rubro-cyanea' was a hybrid between B. saundersii and B. nutans. It is odd that Olwen did not mention the typical blue edged petals inherited from B. nutans. It is also odd that her Plant catalogue for 1979 does not show a Billbergia 'Rubro-cyanea' but does show a B. chlorosticta x nutans!
Late 1980's I did acquire a plant with B. 'Rubro-cyanea' on the label from Olwen and it eventually flowered. It had links with B. nutans as she had suggested but how different was it to B.'Hoelscheriana' where the parentage is reversed? This made me search for the original description of B. 'Hoelscheriana' in Gartenflora 47: 286 fig 76 (1898) to help me in this quest. I thank botanist Jason Grant for finding it for me. Duly translated from the German this is as follows:
| Plant - | medium height |
| Leaves - | tongue-shaped, ca. 40 - 45 cm long, 3 - 4 cm wide, remote fine teeth, dull green, somewhat bran-like underneath, similarly for the not very wide leaf-sheath, wine-red, with more or less translucent flecks. The lower part of the leaf makes a lax tube, the upper part bends over gracefully. |
| Scape - | Beautifully bent, including the inflorescence 45 - 50 cm long, pink-red with beautiful carmine-red bracts totally enveloping the lower portion. |
| Inflorescence - | Upper scape bracts lanceolate, ca. 10 cm long, 2 cm wide with long tip, becoming flat, but rolled inwards, sterile, the upper one or possibly two are 6 - 8 cm long and contain a flower. The remaining flowers almost without floral bract on a zigzag 12 cm long rhachis. |
| Flower - | with very small triangular lanceolate reddish bract, pedicel very short, green, underneath the green ovary which is cylindrical but somewhat wider at the top, weakly furrowed, 1 cm or more long. |
| Sepals - | Linear-lanceolate, hardly tipped, rolled into a tube, carmine-red, indigo-blue at the tip, 2 cm long. |
| Petals - | 4 cm long, green, forming a tube, the tip bent back and sticking out, indigo-blue edged tip. |
| Filaments - | with beautiful golden-yellow stamens, beginning somewhat shorter than the petals. |
| Style - | with three spiralling green lobes drawn together in a long head, longer than the anthers, as long as the petals, protogynous, viz. the lobes mature before the anthers. |
From B. saundersii the wine red underneath, the translucent flecks and the breadth of the leaf.
From B. nutans the wholly overhanging scape and the blue edge of the petals
Perhaps you may like to compare the original drawing of B. 'Hoelscheriana' with the photos we have of B.'Hoelscheriana' and B. 'Rubro-cyanea' to see their similarity. However, the closer fit seems to be what we have as B. 'Rubro-cyanea'
Was Mulford Foster wrong in his assumption in 1951? According to the Bromeliad Cultivar Registry this plant is referred to in Giridlian's 1945 Catalogue as a hybrid so it appears that Mulford Foster was in error in confusing it with the species B. saundersii. Perhaps he should have picked a better example.
I hope you were not too confused about the change of name that has occurred in the now B. saundersii. In the 1970's and before, it was known as B. saundersii. Smith and Downs 1979 changed the name to B. chlorosticta and then in 1985 it went back to B. saundersii! It is rare in Australia whereas the hybrids mentioned above and Billbergia 'Fantasia' which can easily be confused with the species are common.
We would love to get photos of B.'Ivey Meyer' and B. 'Pixie' for comparison purposes. The Bromeliad Cultivar Registry says that B. 'Pixie' has smooth unscurfed tan-brown ovaries. We have an unknown in Australia with sulcate, smooth, unscurfed green-brown ovaries but is it 'Pixie'?"
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