'Auntie Margaret Queries'

Aechmea azurea not A. fendleri

Margaret Butcher

In 1996 in Australia Peter Franklin was pondering over a plant he had which had just flowered white. Nothing strange about that, you may say! But he had received identical plants from different sources as Aechmea fendleri and Aechmea winkleri both of which are not know for their white petals. He decided to contact Harry Luther at the BSI identification centre. Harry's answer was succinct and Aechmea azurea! Apparently Harry had come across this problem before because the BSI Seed fund had offered Aechmea fendleri seed in the late 1970's. This plant turned out to be a weak white-flowered form of Aechmea azurea.
Why am I telling you this? This plant is alive and well in Australia, in fact it has just cropped up again under the name of A. araneosa. Someone has been trying desperately to identify this plant and yet it seems to be a plant not worthy of growing. If this saga of name changing is occurring in Australia then it must also be occurring in the USA. The names could have been changed in the USA before the plants reached these shores! It seems highly probable that some plants grown as A. fendleri here in Australia originated from the seed on offer.

So beware a white petalled A. fendleri with a very weak scape! It is most likely an Aechmea azurea.

Auntie Margaret

Aechmea azurea

Aechmea azurea
Inflorescence

Aechmea azurea
Flower

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Peter Franklin

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