Pages 62/3 Aechmea distichantha (note correct spelling) v.glaziovii and v. schlumbergeri both appear to be forms of Aechmea distichantha v. distichantha. If we refer to Flora Neotropica pages 1889-1893 we see that the varieties of Baensch should have dense inflorescences with erect side spikes, with the v. glaziovii being the shorter of the two. Baker's Handbook of the Bromeliaceae 1889 page 54 confirms the shape for the variety glaziovii and indicates that the inflorescence is only 10cm long! A black and white photograph in Rauh's Bromeliads 1979 illustration 185 seems to agree with this. However, Padilla's photograph in the BSI Journal 1977 page 168 shows a small version of the v. distichantha but names it v. glaziovii. To date I have not been able to trace a plant that links with L B Smith's description of v. glaziovii although we do have in Australia what we
believe to be the v. schlumbergeri. See photograph by Peter Franklin.
The species Aechmea distichantha is an intriguing one because we know that L B Smith intended to create a fourth variety from Foster's collection 3043 but failed to do so. As I pointed out on Brom-l this complex would be an interesting challenge to a botanist but no one took up the offer. Luckily, I now have a botanist looking at this anomaly.Whoever takes up the challenge should not be too worried about Pereira's variety vernicosa. This was named the same time as Billbergia pyramidalis v. vernicosa which was found to have had varnish spilt over it giving it that vernicose look!
Page 63 The Aechmea pimenti-velosoi v. glabra is the cultivar 'Pie in the sky' See seperate 'Uncle Derek Say' item.
Page 69 The Aechmea 'seideliana' is probably a large form of A. warasii. See our picture
Page 73 The Aechmea caudata v. eipperi is an A. organensis. See our pictures.
Page 73 Aechmea pseudonudicaulis looks like a possible A. apocalyptica or a hybrid of it. See Fossari's botanical painting.
Page 84 Billbergia 'Collevii' Original description in 1882 says "Posture slender, leaves gracefully reflexed, of a beautiful green, large areas of white, flowers blue, bracts rose-carmine". A hybrid between B. amoena (mother) and B. leopoldi (now vittata) (father). The plant pictured seems to equate with B. amoena 'Red form' being grown in Australia from seed from Elton Leme. See our picture.
Page 87 The true Billbergia kuhlmannii seems very rare in cultivation. Every plant we have sent to Harry Luther for identification has turned out to be B. brasiliensis which equates with this photo. See our picture.
Page 87 The Billbergia pallidiflora is really B. meyeri which we have grown in Australia for years. How do we know about B. pallidiflora? It is a bit embarrassing because we in Adelaide grew B. chiapensis from seed from the BSI seed Fund and our plant had itself set seed. This seed was offered on Brom-l in 1996 and we had a "Yes, Please" from Marie Selby with a little proviso "if its the right one!" This caused panic in the ranks with phone calls, checking of references ,and checking of plants and photographs! Whoops, our B. chiapensis was really B. pallidiflora! We NOW know what a B. pallidiflora looks like.
Page 151 Eric Gouda points out that the paintings by Margaret Mee on page 151 of Aechmea polyantha is actually Aechmea egleriana and A. meeana is really A. polyantha
Page 123 Neoregelia melanodonta. This plant does not equate with the description in Smith and Downs page 1574. Harry Luther has pointed out that in his experience all N. melanodonta he has checked in the USA have been N. concentrica.
Page 213 Tillandsia chiletensis. The true plant comes from Chilete in Peru and is a small plant with spreading leaves. The plant pictured is a T. lorentziana in its many forms.
Page 216 Vriesea michaelii differs from the more common V. rodigasiana by scape bracts well exceeding the internodes and by a red mid-line in the floral bracts. Neither of these are evident in the photograph and it appears to be V. rodigasiana.
Page 224 The Vriesea philippocoburgii seems to be the same as that shown on page 226 as V. reitzii.
Page 228 Vriesea 'Deutscher Zwerg' is incorrect as it appears to be similar to the seed parent (V. erecta x V. carinata) without the influence of the pollen parent V. corcovadensis. See our picture which we believe is more correct.
Page 232 Vriesea carinata. Generally speaking all the recognised varieties of this species have spikes almost as long as wide. However the use of this species in hybridisation has meant that there are many hybrids that range from the species to V.'Mariae'. I suspect that this photo is of a hybrid too.
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