Pitcairnia corcovadensis Wawra[as Pitcairnia corcovadensis Wawra]

Observations: —Pitcairnia lancifolia Mez, known only from the type, and P. lancifolia var. minor L. B. Sm., known from the type and one collection, are restricted to Serra dos Orgaos and Serra da Tijuca {which in¬cludes the Corcovado Mountain), where specimens of P. corcavadensis have been collected in large pop¬ulations. The distinctive characteristic of P. lancifolia is the presence of petiolate leaves. However, a closer examination of these specimens reveals that rather than petiolate leaves {such as those found in P. spru¬cei Baker, for instance), the leaves of these plants are slightly narrowed just above the sheath, as can also be seen in P. corcovadensis. This observation in¬dicates that the petiolate leaves characteristic has been wrongly attributed to P. lancifolia.
Pitcairnia pumila Weber is known only from the type collection at Serra dos Orgaos. It was de-scribed based on a depauperate specimen, of which not even the petals are known. There is no char-acteristic in the original description that can distin¬guish this species from .P corcovadensis.
Pitcairnia lancifolia var. lancifolia, P. lancifolia var. minor; and P. pumila are small plants with scape length, number of flowers per inflorescence and flower bracts length fitting the pattern defined to P. corcovadensis.

Edited from : Syst. Bot.. .