Tillandsia xiphioides Ker Gawl.
Taxonomic Change:
- Type voucher probably none existant. Species adequately typified (designated here) by original description and plate —See Smith & Downs 1977 p. 815
Literature references:
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Comments:
- Tillandsia xiphoides E Morren ex Wittmack [orthographic error] (Nat. Pflanzenfam 2 (Abt. 4): 57 (1888))
- One of the beautiful Tillandsias of South America is T. xiphioides. It is trouble-free to cultivate and the size and smell of the flowers are so unique, and should be in every collection.
Maintaining most Tillandsias in their homeland is difficult because they are still treated as "parasitos", T. xiphioides is different and you often see it in special places. T. xiphioides specifically has in Argentina the melodious name "clavel del aire "- air-carnation.
T. xiphioides was originally described in 1816 by Ker-Gawler from a descendant of a plant from "Buenos Aires" that flowered 5 years later in the collection of Lord Fortescue in Devonshire. Because of the lack of herbarium material the description was based on a drawing (Abb.1), that shows the upper part of the rosette of a plant with an obvious middle-sized inflorescence. There is a hint in this description that we are dealing with Tillandsias as a parasite.
How large a number of different growth patterns and habitat area is shown by the numerous synonyms: T. suavolens Lemaire,1843, Anoplophytum xyphyoides Beer, 1857, T. unca Hicken non Griseb., 1874, T. macronemis Griseb. 1879, T. sericea Hortus ex Morren, 1879, T. odorata Gillies ex Baker, 1887.
Actually T. xiphioides is not only far spread in Bolivia and Argentina but is known according to literature also from South Brazil and Paraguay. (Abb. 2).
Also T. arequitae Andre ex Mez, 1896, from Cerro de Arequita, Minas, Depto. La-valleja, Uruguay, is close to T. xiphioides but differs from this through the somewhat smaller odour-less flowers with much shorter flower bracts and short same shaped sepals.
The description for T. xiphioides in Smith & Downs, Flora Neotropica, monograph nr. 14/2, p., 815, an apparent variable plant that: "flowers 15-30 cm or high, leaf to 25 cm long, but often many short "etc
On collecting trips in Bolivia and Argentina we found T. xiphioides or similar plants again and again and took some plants at most places of discovery as test material. From the 35th parallel in Argentina and approximately 20th in Bolivia we collected specimens that flowered in cultivation. 25 specimens were examined in detail. Besides large differences in habit there appeared differences in the inflorescences (Abb 3).
Flowering plants vary in size between 10 cm and approximately 35 cm and leaf length between 8 cm and almost 25 cm. The upper leaf face is covered with fine, dense appressed scales also with large erect asymmetric ones, so that the leaf looks either smooth and almost shiny or silvery and velvet-like.
The inflorescence is just as different: short, little - and few flowered spikes, hardly 10 cm long and not once 1 cm wide, that seem to originate directly from the leaf-rosette without a visible scape, to almost 3 cm wide as well as long stemmed spikes, that stick out over the leaf , producing numerous single flowers more than 5 cm in diam.. Particularly some of the smaller flowered "forms" they are for T. xiphioides characteristic, odour-less. The colour of the petal is variable: from an abundant white to also blue and yellow. With the blue flower-colour, it comes in all shades from pale blue to dark-violet. Blue as well as violet flowering T. xiphioides occurs in a number of forms in Argentina but limited in a relatively small area and each is vegetatively quite similar, those coming from Bolivia are scattered far and wide, and even excluding the rock-growing form, differs from location to location.
There are other blue flowering types from Argentina like T. zecheri W Till, 1983, and T. muhrii Rauh, 1986, that related to T. lorentziana Grisebach, 1874, as well as T. cardenasii L. B. Smith, 1935.
Just like T. zecheri , T. muhrii also comes from the province of Salta, where it is found in the surroundings of Cafayate, Hr 7169, Hr 7174, 1981. A collection from the province of Jujui is not known to me, and that place of discovery was made by D. Muhr in the description (Jujui, loco incerto) is presumably correct.
The yellow petal colour for T. xiphioides was obviously unknown before the collection was made in 1979. The plant is exclusively found on a few rock-locations in the transition from the East Bolivian highlands to the Gran Chaco.
The variety of similar forms suggests that they have evolved from the basic type to groups that can be summarized as varieties or species.
Up to now we have:
T. xiphioides Ker-Gawler,1816, white flowered, very variable plant shape.
T. xiphioides var. tafiensis L. B. SMITH, 1970. Syn.: T. friesii sensu Castellanos, 1933, non Mez 1906.
In the differential-diagnosis, the variety was different from the Type by: the long leaf scales, the leaves like shiny felt, the maximum length of the flower bract 4-5 cm and the petals 3 cm.. Colour of the petals violet.
The type plant was found in 1931, almost 40 years before its description, by Schreiter in Managua near Tafi, Prov. Tucuman, Argentina, between 2000 and 3000 m . It was said to be epiphytic. We found them not far from the stated place of discovery in the same meagre and treeless Highlands at the Abra Del Infiernillo, Tafi, but not on rocks.
Actually with this variety, the description should include in particular the dense eccentric white leaf scales with long ends on the edges The flower-colour is quite different in culture, at least, and extends from pale blue to intensive dark-violet. It has also been noted that for the same plant in different years can flower a different shade of blue. Plants flower for us in the early Spring, and it is possible that the different colours are caused by different exposure to sunlight.
Another difference between it and the variety appears in the relationship between style and stamen. Compared with var. xiphioides the style is always very much longer than the flower tube whereas the stamens are enclosed, but with the three examined forms of var. tafiensis they are only little longer and hardly exceed the throat of the flower tube.
T. xiphioides var. tafiensis grows near Tafi Del Valle at a, for T. xiphioides an extreme height up to 3000m.
A second place of discovery is near Payogasta, Cachipampa, Prov. Salta, Hr 7135, lies approximately 200 km further North and likewise near 2700 m high. Also here, the plants grow conclusively on rocks, in association with Deuterocohnia aff. meziana and Parodia aureicentra. In the winter months at such height the temperature falls at night to -10°C and on cloudy days hardly climbs a few degrees above zero.
The conditions in such exposed areas with extreme dryness and intensive sunlight radiation cause especially dense felty scales on many plants, as is shown with var. tafiensis and also with T. zecheri found in the same sort of area. Perhaps this may prove the development of the blue flower colour from otherwise white flowered plants, but this not strictly correct: exactly between the two mentioned places of discovery of the blue flowered var. tafiensis you find at 2800 m high on rocks near Laguna Brealito an occurrence of one particularly beautiful large and white flowered form of T. xiphioides.
However, T. xiphioides var. xiphioides grows in the Argentinian highlands between 600 m and 1800m. Mostly, it is epiphytic but is also found on rocks however again and again. Growing on individual rock-locations you find slightly different forms, but those growing epiphytically are similar over hundreds of kilometres. But then the larger plants with long inflorescences and large flowers grow on bushes ( Hr 7320, Sierra de Porongo, 800 m, La Rioja; Hr 7269, Los Colorados, La Rioja, Arg.), we found in all the epiphytic T. xiphioides only one single population with a strikingly different habit. The leaves were not polystichously arranged, distinguished by rows exactly above each other (Hr 7305, west of. San Luis, 550 m.) This odd behaviour is also seen with T. aizoides and was only seen from one other place,( Hr 7103; south of La Quiaca, 3750 m, Jujui, Arg.), there are similar characteristics described in T.pentasticha Rauh & R. Wulfinghoff from the Federal state Guerrero, Mexico.
With all differences in habit for a larger part the xiphioides-like Tillandsia from Argentina there is, however, several common characteristics:
It is never forms a stem longer than the leaf, the leaves always spread outwards and bent under. Unrelated from the size of the Inflorescence the size of the single flower is identical. The floral bracts are the same shape between 5 cm and 7,5 cm long, green or a slight reddish overlay, not keeled and fully glabrous except for the lowermost. Also the sepals with a length of 3-5 cm always show the same characteristics: glabrous, smooth, green, the posterior pair short connate and strongly keeled. The petals are admittedly different sized from 8 cm to approximately 11 cm long, but agrees in prortion, with wide, oval to roundish platte and rippled, abundantly serrated edges. The flowers always smell.
All these are in the group T. xiphioides var. xiphioides. The gradation in size of the Inflorescence as well as the single flower at their respective altitudes was not determined, just as little is known of the appearance of small or large forms in their own areas. Having an important difference from stem forming habit and in the flowering is a small growing form found on a few rock-locations from the neighbouring provinces of San Luis and Cordoba, Argentina. It will be described as T. xiphioides var. minor. —See Hromadnik 1989b p. 61-65
