Margaret Butcher
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In March 1979 Andrew Flower from New Zealand obtained seed labelled "T. bartramii complex - dwarf" from the BSI Seed bank. Over 20 years later he is still pondering the name but at least his plants are now adult and flowering.
In 1979 Lyman Smith was treating T. simulata as a synonym of T. bartramii. In 1982 in her PhD dissertation Sue Gardner split T. simulata from T. bartramii. Normally these dissertations are not accepted as valid publications by the botanic fraternity. In 1986 in Selbyana 9: 130 - 146 T. simulata is NOT mentioned by Gardner in her Tillandsia Classification System! In 1994 in Selbyana 15:36 in De Rebus I, Luther and Sieff showed them as separate species and I assume this legitimises Gardner's Dissertation in 1982.
What are the differences? From photocopies of herbaria material sent to me by Harry Luther the main difference seems to be in a triangular leaf sheath for T. bartramii and a narrow-oval shaped leaf sheath for T. simulata.
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At the Orlando Conference in 1996 Harry Luther spoke on the native Tillandsias of Florida. Part of a map printed in the "Proceedings" is shown here indicating where both species can be found. |
On 4 July 1998 in Brom-l, Kenneth Quinn reported on some fieldwork he had done. Remember he is not a Botanist and lost his original work on the subject and is reporting from memory. I quote " The purpose of the trip was to find out if T. bartramii and T. simulata were separate species, at least to the extent that they could be separated on vegetative characteristics. In Flora Neotropica T. simulata is treated as a synonym of T. bartramii, but the more I read the more I wondered. After examining herbarium specimens at Marie Selby Gardens, and my field work, I am convinced that they are indeed separate. T. bartramii has very narrow leaves and the numerous leaves in the rosette are held almost vertically. T. simulata has fewer, broader leaves and they are recurved; they also are in a flatter rosette. T. bartramii is found mostly north of Kissimmee, T. simulata south.
The area around Kissimmee seems to be the home of a hybrid swarm, with those two species and T. fasciculata interbreeding rather freely. In this area the 1989 freeze killed nearly all epiphytic specimens but those that rooted in the sandy soil fared much better, probably due to residual heat of the ground. T. setacea, abundant several years earlier, was almost gone."
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So looking at Andrew's plants I believe that they are T.simulata, hoping of course that the seed was not originally collected in the Kissimmee area where we now know a hybrid swarm exists. |
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If anyone has access to Small's original description of T. simulata in Man. South east. Fl. 270, 1503. (1933) it would be great to get a copy. Of even greater interest is the names that must be on labels on plants held in captivity in Florida. How many of you have checked?
Auntie Margaret
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