"Uncle Derek Says"

Nidularium lubbersianum Hort Leod

"In Bulletin Horticole (Liege, Belgium) 1946-8 Louis Dutrie wrote a series of articles on 'The Bromeliads' These were translated and appeared in the Journal of the Bromeliad Society in 1987-8. The plant we are talking about is mentioned on page 19 in the Jan/Feb edition 1988. I quote. "N. "lubbersianum" Hort. Leod. Leaves erect, narrow, brilliantly dark green above, strongly tinged with brown beneath. The inflorescence, raised on a floral stalk 15 cm tall, is surrounded by inner leaves 8-10 cm long, tapering to a point, reddish green at the base, red at the tip. Although of the same shape, but less vividly colored, it reminds one of Guzmania lingulata [var .] splendens." No date is given but I would assume that this plant would have been in existence in the early 1900's because this is the period when Lubbers was around. The "Hort" means of horticultural origin so we are unable to use collecting data in our search for this elusive plant. Leod. means Liege which was the work-place of the famous Edouard Morren. A plant by this name,(or was it lubbersii or lubbersiana?) was being grown by a Wal Charley in the Blue Mountains at Bilpin, New South Wales, AU. in the late 1950's and found its way to New Zealand.in this period. Interestingly, no mention is made in Bromeletter of Nidularium 'Lubbersianum' even in articles by Wal Charley in the early days of the Bromeliad Society of Australia (Thanks to research by Geoff Lawn WA). No mention is made in Flora Neotropica by Smith and Downs 1979. No mention is made in the Bromeliad Cultivar Register. No mention is made in Elton Leme's reconstruction of Nidularium in his book in 2000. Mention IS made in Journal of the Bromeliad Society 22(5): 122. 1972 but the article was written by a New Zealander! In October 1954 Muriel Waterman received a plant labelled "Nidularium lubbersii" from Sanders in Hertfordshire, England. In her notes, which Andrew Flower of Wellington, New Zealand guards zealously, she describes her "lubbersii" as follows: "leaves 21 to 24 inches long, 1 ½ inches wide. When about to flower, the centre leaves turn bright red. Flowers in the 'cone' have blue (or blue-purple) and white petals. European season for flowering is October-November." Does this link with Dutrie's description? Her description is not botanically correct because Nidularium's inner leaves do not change colour. This is provided by the primary bracts. BUT her use of the words 'bright red' could link with Dutrie's comment. Recent discussions with Gerry Stansfield and Keith Green suggest that the plant is still living in New Zealand. A recent view in New Zealand has been that it is synonymous with Nidularium procerum but nobody has done a detailed dissection to ascertain why they considered this action. And, in any event nothing has been written about this in New Zealand. The plant in the collection of Maureen Green certainly has wide AND recurved primary bracts and if you ignore the teeth the inflorescence does look like some forms of Guzmania lingulata. Louis Dutrie did not have access to good quality coloured photos and this comparison is as good as any. I have decided that the best solution is to put 'Lubbersianum' into the Bromeliad Cultivar Registry and its New Zealand photo, rather than attempt to treat the problem under the ICBN rules. It is possible that this plant is still being grown in Europe as well as New Zealand. It must also be mentioned that possibly as long as 40 years ago someone crossed this plant with Nidularium rutilans possibly in New Zealand and this hybrid will be aptly called 'Rusty'."

Nidularium 'Lubbersianum'

Nidularium 'Rusty'

Nidularium 'Rusty' flower

Photo Credits:
Nidularium 'Lubbersianum' - Keith Green
Nidularium 'Rusty' - Gerry Stansfield