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"You had better start getting your tongue around this name because I think I have found this plant already in Australia. Peter Franklin of Raymond Terrace, often sends me photographs to challenge me because many are seedlings in the Ortgiesia group of Aechmea. But sometimes he comes up with more normal queries! One was of a photograph of Nidularium scheremetiewii which he said that Bill Morris said wasn't because Lyman Smith said so! This took me back 10 years or more, when I had obtained a N. scheremetiewii from Bill as well as a Nid. sp. I felt the N. scheremetiewii generally agreed with the description in Smith & Downs after I had taken a flowering specimen to pieces. Then the Nid. sp. flowered and it was again dismembered and notes taken. Here I referred my findings to Elton Leme and he said Nidularium scheremetiewii! So we had two N. scheremetiewii's growing in our garden, one sensu Leme and the other sensu Butcher. Towards the end of 2000 Leme's Nidularium book arrived in Australia and I wonder how many have really read it. I seem to be the only one to comment on it. We now know that what we were growing as N. innocentii v. wittmackianum is now N. longiflorum. And we know that the long stolon Nidularium called purpurea is now N. rubens. My latest query from Peter had me referring to my records AND my new Nidularium Book! When all else fails you try the KEY to the species and MY N. scheremetiewii did not fit N. scheremetiewii but it did fit N. cariacicaense! This had me scrabbling for my worksheet and comparing it with the detail in the book. These fitted much more comfortably than before and what was the clincher was the bluish ovary. In the second part of the KEY it shows for this group of nidulariums ovaries are always white except for N. cariacicaense! I believe we have another species name to learn and if you want to see for yourself, check the photographs for both species in Leme's book. I am sure you will be convinced just from the photographs.
What other goodies are in store for us in Leme's Nidularium Book? I'm still looking. Are you?" |
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| Nidularium cariacicaense | Nidularium scheremetiewii | ||
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Uncle Derek Says Index
Photo Credits:
Nidularium cariacicaense - Derek Butcher
Nidularium scheremetiewii - Derek Butcher