It only seems but yesterday when I was telling you we only had one species in Fascicularia namely Fascicularia bicolor ssp. bicolor and ssp. canaliculata. There seemed to be a chance that only the ssp. bicolor was in Australia!
Those of you who have Flora Neotropica by Smith & Downs may have noticed there was a Fascicularia litoralis and in my article on Fascicularia I mentioned this name was in doubt.
Surprise, surprise, in Willdenowia 32 in 2002 we see the name resurrected as a Ochagavia. In a review of the genus Ochagavia by Georg Zizka, Katia Trumpler, and Otto Zoellner in preparation for the Flora of Chile we see some interesting changes.
The genus Ochagavia is best distinguished from the vegetatively similar, genus Fascicularia by the following features:
- relative length of style and stamina (Ochagavia: exserted, Fascicularia: included in the flower);
- shape of sepals (Ochagavia: acute with pungent apex, Fascicularia: retuse or premorse, with short inconspicuous mucro);
- colour and appendages of petals (Ochagavia: petals. rose, appendages absent, Fascicularia: petals blue to violet, appendages present);
- pollen characters (Ochagavia: monocolpate, Fascicularia: irregularly monocolpate).
Using the following key, as I did, work out where your plant fits in.
Key to the species of Ochagavia
| 1. | Epigynous tube more than 10 mm long, stamens not or barely exceeding the petals (style distinctly exceeding); endemic to Isla Robinson Crusoe | elegans |
| 1a. | Epigynous tube up to 5( - 7) mm long, stamens (as well as style) exceeding the petals; endemic to continental Chile | 2 |
| 2. | Leaf blades 15-45cm long, densely whitish lepidote below | 3 |
| 2a. | Leaf blades (40-)50-80(-120) cm long, sparsely lepidote to glabrescent below. | carnea |
| 3. | Leaf blades 15-40 x l-3cm | litoralis |
| 3a. | Leaf blades 30-45 x 0.9-1.7cm | andina |
What had happened to the plant I grew as O. carnea? It didn't fit but O. litoralis did! Certainly Fascicularia and Ochagavia are closely allied and history shows there was much confusion in the past when only herbarium specimens were available for comparison. Molecular comparisons also help!
Now to a bit of detail that may help you identify your plant as Ochagavia litoralis.
Ochagavia litoralis (Phil.) Zizka, Trumpler & Zoellner, comb. nova
Stem to over 20 cm long and c. 1.7( -4 ?) cm in diameter, forming dense colonies through vigorous offset production.
Leaf sheaths (2.7-)3.8-6(- 7.5) x 1.5-4.4 cm, broadly ovate to orbicular, densely lepidote to ± glabrous toward base;
Leaf blades 17-38 x 1-3 cm, narrowly triangular, not or inconspicuously channelled, firmly coriaceous, densely whitish lepidote below, glabrous to sparsely lepidote (especially toward base) above.
Inflorescence 4.5-8.3 x 3.5-8 cm with 15-35 flowers, globose to ovoid, scape 8-12 cm long.
Outer bracts rose, (2.6-)3.4-6.7(-7.7) x 1.6-2.4 cm, oblong to ± obovate.
Floral bracts rose, densely lepidote, (2.3-)3.5-6.5 x 0.6-1.4(-2.2) cm.
Flowers 4-6.3 cm long, epigynous tube 0.3-0.6 cm long.
Sepals whitish, 1.5-2.4 x 0.3-0.5 cm.
Petals rose, 2.3-3.2 x 0.3-0.8 cm.
Stamens ± exserted, filaments free. Style exceeding corolla, (0.35-)0.5-0.8 cm long.
Fruit 2-3.2 x 1-1.7 cm, sparsely lepidote.
Seeds 0.15-0.21 x 0.1-0.13 cm.
Distribution. - From Illapel, Coquimbo, to Colchagua. The species is principally part of the coastal vegetation of central Chile.
Habitat. - On rocks and steep cliffs, mainly near the sea; among sclerophyllous vegetation; 10-250 m. elevation. On coastal cliffs near Valparaiso the species was observed to form dense, extensive stands.
Vernacular name. Calilla, chupon.
Remarks. - The combination Fascicularia litoralis by Mez in Martius (Fl. Bras. 3,3: 627. 1894) is not validly published because the basionym was cited without author. Ochagavia lindleyana was intended by Mez as a new combination of the basionym Bromelia lindleyana. Actually, the latter name was not validly published (not accepted by the describer himself) and therefore not available as a basionym. Nevertheless, Mez fulfilled all requirements for a valid publication of a new species, thus the name is regarded as published by Mez, not as a new combination.
The illustration in the protologue of Hechtia pitcairniifolia (= Fascicularia pitcairniifolia), designated as the lectotype of that name by Smith & Downs (1979), makes clear that the species belongs to the genus Ochagavia. Both the dimension of the leaves given in the protologue and the lectotype indicate that F. pitcairniifolia is with some certainty conspecific with 0. litoralis.
Finally, it may be interesting to note that Otto Zoellner was the one in Valparaiso who received my letters in the mid 1990's imploring for Ochagavia seed. I now find out these are not easy to find in the wild but at the time Otto did appease me somewhat by sending Puya venusta seed which I distributed around at the time. I wonder how many plants survived because surely they should be flowering by now. My own plants look healthy and adultish but just sit."
