From Trop Subtrop Pflanzenwelt 31 (1979) p11-13
In the " Bromeliad Society Bulletin ", Vol. X, 6, 1960, L. B. SMITH describes under the name Tillandsia ferrisiana a new type, that in 1925 R. S. FERRIS and J. MEXIA collected under the number 5121-A near Labrados in the state Sinaloa (North-Mexico) It was found later (1955) also on Baja California near Rancho San Vicente, CARTER and CHISARI, No., 3608, however always without flowering, so that these are not known up to now and a transfer of the type was not made to one of the Tillandsia-sub-genera. L. B. SMITH admittedly put it into the relationship of the widely dispersed in central-Mexico T. schiedeana STEUD., from which it is distinguished through the small scape as well as densely lepidote floral bracts and sepals. Also in the Flora Neotropica, 14, II (Tillandsioideae) is made no further statements under flowering. In May 1979 on our trip into the Cactus country of North-Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora and Sinaloa) in a dry coastal area(Mesquite - ) south and north of the city of Mazatlan we collected flowering plants of Tillandsia ferrisiana L. B. SMITH so that the diagnosis can be amended.
Plant on the basis of extensive, basal branching of the single plants forms dense clumps, forming a trunk to 10 cm long;
Leaf loosely spirally arranged with small, stem-enclosing sheath to 15 cm long, upright when young, in the age horizontally sticking out tip bent over, narrowly 3-angular, involute, densely gray lepidote blade;
Scape very short, with few, subfoliate scape bracts;
Inflorescence approximately 3 cm long, simple, terete, 2-3-flowering;
Floral bract oval-acuminate, ca 2 cm long, ecarinate, densely gray-lepidote, when dried nerved mostly at the top,
Flowers 2.8 to 3 cm long, that exceeds the floral bracts by about 2 cm, pale carmine red; Petals a little unfurled at the tip;
Stamens and stigma enclosed
Habitat: dry-forest with Mazatlan, approximately 50 m above sea level); Collection No. Rauh 50 444 (June 1979).
Despite the similar habitat to T.schiedeana, T. ferrisiana is classified under the sub-genus Allardtia,whereas T. schiedeana with its yellow flowers and protruding stamens is in the sub-genus Tillandsia.
T. ferrisiana grows in the dry country north of Mazatlan with T. circinnata SCHLECHT, T., exserta FERNALD,and a very small form of T. caput-medusae E. MORREN, and until now was a relatively small, indeterminable Tillandsia for lack of flowering, —SeeSmith & Downs 1977
