Again, Aechmea alopecurus by Walter Till in J. Brom. Soc. 37(1): 14-5. 1987
Recently this species was the subject of an article written by E. Pereira and E. Leme in volume 35, number 5 of this journal. They mention the rediscovery of this striking Aechmea and emend the description; unfortunately, they are not able to give any geographic collecting data. Further, they establish a neotype, and this has been the impulse to publish the present short communication.
According to Smith & Downs (1979) the holotype of this species (Pohl 5230), deposited in the herbarium of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria, was destroyed in the final troubles of World War II and declared lost now. In fact, a small part of the museum's bromeliads has survived and is still kept there (a complete list is in preparation) , among them the type of A. alopecurus Mez in Martius.
I have boiled a single flower in 1n NaOH; the floral details are shown in figure 7. The existence of a type specimen, in our case, the one and only in the Museum of Natural History of Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien, internat. abbreviation: W), makes the presence of a neotype superfluous: Aechmea alopecurus Mez in Martius, holotype Pohl 5230, Brasilia, without further locality, det. Carl Mez 1894 "Specimina in monographia Bromeliacearum citatum" (W, F photo 29963).
It is noteworthy that the inflorescence in the type specimen is curved in a rather unusual way: the scape is strictly erect, but the inflorescence is divergent in an angle of more than 90°! The scape is in no way broken at the upper end as would be done by artificial cracking for the purpose of pressing the specimen; this obvious curving seems to be natural. In all remaining characters the descriptions of Mez, Smith & Downs, and Pereira & Leme are good and need not to be extended here. —SeeTill 1992ap. 37(1): 14-15
When Edmundo Pereira and I announced the finding of the second dried specimen of Aechmea alopecurus Mez without field data and known after the type collection, we hoped to encounter, some day, living material of such a bromeliad in nature. At that time, the type of this species was supposed to be lost and for that reason we were encouraged to establish a neotype on the basis of the newly identified dried material. Such a decision generated an immediate reaction from Dr. Walter Till of the Botanical Institute, Vienna, who communicated that, in fact, the type of A. alopecurus was not lost but had survived the troubles of World War II. There was no need, consequently, for establishing the neotype.
We used to visit Roberto Burle Marx and his interesting bromeliad collection from time to time. During one of these visits we were surprised to observe a big clump of a spiny Aechmea in full bloom growing terrestrially in Burle Marx's magnificent landscape. Such a group of bromeliads made us remember something very familiar. Yes, it was A. alopecurus, we concluded without much effort.
It is noteworthy that the unusual curving of the scape observed by Dr. Till in the type specimen was not confirmed in the two living and flowering specimens that we saw. On the other hand, we should stress here that we have observed in the field some species belong to the subgenus Pothuava, such as Aechmea pineliana (Brong. ex Planchon) Baker, sometimes presenting such a strange scape curve. We believe that the curve depends on the position of the plant when it starts to flower .
As far as Roberto Burle Marx's good memory is concerned, those specimens of Aechmea alopecurus were found growing terrestrially in the state of Mato Grosso during one of his numerous collecting trips to that part of the country .
From this information we now have field data to check in future excursions and, most important, we have living plants to study and enjoy. —SeeLeme 1990ep. 40(2): 70-71
