Hromadnik 2005c (Article) Tillandsia

Tillandsia rosacea L. Hrom. & W. Till, spec. nov.

Author(s):—L. Hromadnik

Publication:—Die Bromelie 2005(3): 88-90. (2005)

Abstract:—Nearly 25 years ago a team of collectors found an unidentifiable plant on a steep rock face at an elevation of about 450 m in an isolated mountain range in the Bolivian province Sta.-Cruz-de-la-Sierra. It is morphologically similar and probably closely related to T. didisticha (E. Morren) Baker, but differs in that it has very fine scales which are tightly appressed, the leaves are tinged yellow and olive green and end with a pungent tip. The flower spikes are erect and tightly arranged, each bearing a longer sterile part at the base. The internodes of the rhachis and the glabrous, purple pink floral bracts, covered in a white waxy layer are both longer than the red. scaly bracts of T. didisticha. The flowers are also longer than T. didisticha with the upper part of the petals broadly elliptic. The petals have dentate margins in the upper part and a round, reflexed tip. It differs from T. pfeufferi Rauh in its relatively large, compound inflorescence and in the flower being in all parts bigger. It differs from T. lorentziana Griseb. by its acaulescent growth. relatively short leaves with involtute margins, and a dense, short and narrow inflorescence with more elongate, erect spikes. T. rosacea, the new species, is now described formally herein.

Published names (1):

Tillandsia rosacea