FloraPix

1987 - Bromeliads (Wild) - 2008-09-17
(Dimension: 1530 x 2050 pixels - Counter: 14804)
Guzmania Rio Sarapiqui 1

Photographer: Hugh Kunze
Note: Brom growing in dense shade in Costa Rica lowlands near Rio Sarapiqui

Identification: pending

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Add Note: Eric Gouda (2008-09-17) - Could this be Guzmania condensata (once branched)?
Add Note: Harry Luther (2008-09-18) - Guzmania scherzeriana
Add Note: Walter Till (2008-09-22) - This strongly reminds me in Guz. thyrsoidea Rauh, Trop. Subtrop.
Pflanzenwelt 58: 50-53 (1986).
Add Note: Peter Bak (2008-09-29) - The pictures are not very clear also because the flower is still immature.
It indeed looks like scherzeriana but I do not know if it comes from there(costa rica) I have seen something similar but in the area of Horquetas which is next to rio puerto viejo which runs into the rio sarapiqui. But what I have seen in horquetas more looks like what we call a giant G disitiflora which I believe Harry now calls rosea. That plant from horquetas was sold commercially for a while here in holand under the name Guzmania Lambada.
Hugh do you have the plant? Send a picture again when it is in full flower.
My experience with scherzeriana is that the inflorescence is more thick and more compact even in nature.
Add Note: Harry Luther (2008-10-01) - The pictured plant is a preanthesis G. scherzeriana, note the branched inflorescence. Both G. rosea and sprucei grow in CR and are simple. The plant in the trade as G."dissitiflora" is G. sprucei. The plant somestimes picured as G." sprucei" is G. rosea. True G. dissitiflora is found only in SW Colombia and NW Ecuador. A similar purple and green relative endemic to CR is G. herrerae.
Add Note: Derek Butcher (2008-10-01) - To all involved with these identification advices
Some will undoubtedly take the word of the experts as gospel but I am a doubting Thomas and use this information to check my plant against the written records and decide in my own mind how close my plant is to the suggested name.
We must remember that the only correctly identified plant is the herbarium specimen and others are but guesses. Some guesses are extremely accurate and some way out. That is what taxonomy is all about. All information should be recorded somewhere so everyone can access it. This has been my aim with records held on the bsi website and fcbs website. Detail is there, for example on the doubts on the cultivation identity of Guzmania dissitiflora.
It would also have been nice to record Guzmania 'Lambada' in the Cultivar Register so that detail not recorded by the taxonomist can at least be accessed. Remember that a cultivar is not necessarily a hybrid but covers plants in cultivation.
Remember that we are dealing with live specimens not herbarium specimens and those of us (admittedly only say 5% of the total Bromeliad growing fraternity) interested in plant identification, at least have something to hang our hat on.
A pensive Uncle Derek