Vriesea fabioi Leme[as Vriesea fabioi Leme]

Diagnose: —A V thyrsoideae Mez. cui affinis. laminis foliorum angustioribus, albo-cretaceis, subtus purpuratis; bracteis primariis minoribus, basin sterilem ramulorum aequantibus vel vix ea brevioribus. rache manifeste geniculata et floribus distincte unilaleralibus differt.

Observations: —This new species, referred to subgenus Vriesea section Vriesea, comes from the riparian forest of the Chapada Diamantina in Bahia. It is related to V. thrysoidea, but differs by the narrower white-cretaceous leaf-blades, purplish on the abaxial surface, the smaller primary bracts, equaling or slightly shorter than the sterile base of the branches, the distinctly geniculate rachis, and by the distinctly secund flowers at anthesis. Vriesea fabioi is an epiphyte that grows in these riparian forests that contain several typical Atlantic Forest taxa common to the southeast of Brazil, which would explain the affinity of this northeastern species with V. thrysoidea, found in the Serra dos Orgaos, in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Edited from : Harvard Pap. Bot.. (protologue) .