Recognition of Tillandsia scaposa on species level makes Tillandsia ionantha paraphyletic, so it should be recognised on variety level again. —SeeAncona et al. 2020p. 5 fig. 2
S&D p910-3 (Info in brackets from Ehlers in Die Bromelie 1999)
Plant stemless, usually in dense masses(an erect, bulbose, green rosette with grey trichomes.)
Leaves rarely over 6 cm long, covered with coarse cinereous spreading scales;
Sheaths elliptic, about half as long as the blade;
Blades narrowly triangular, subulate-attenuate, stout, 5 mm wide, the outer ones green, the inner deep red in life.
Scape short .
Inflorescence appearing to be a simple abbreviated spike with polystichous flowers but actually a reduced panicle with the axes aborted and the spikes reduced to a single flower each; (with a distinct stem, simple, polystichous, ( In rare conditions it becomes a compound inflorescence) laxly elongate with 3 - 8 flowers)
Primary bracts lance-ovate, acute, equaling or exceeding the sepals, membranaceous, lepidote toward apex.
Floral bracts like the primary bracts but shorter than the sepals (3 - 3.5 cm long to 7 mm wide, lanceolate acuminate, inside glabrous, outside pink, weak mostly punctulate lepidote.)
Flowers sessile, erect.
Sepals lanceolate, acute, 16 mm long, membranaceous, free, the posterior carinate, short-connate;( 1.3 - 1.5 cm long, the posterior ones keeled and joined for a very short way (almost free?), distinctly lepidote.)
Petals erect, over 4 cm long, violet, the claw linear, the blade broadly elliptic, subacute;( 3.5-3.8cm long, blue-violet.)
Stamens and pistil long-exserted.
Capsule subcylindric, acute, 3 cm long.
Clarification in J. Brom. Soc. 38: 165. 1988 Note that Ehlers (1999) treats T. kolbii as a separate taxon possibly of hybrid origin
The short illustrated note on Tillandsia ionantha in the March-April Journal requires a clarification. Both figures 7 and 8 represent Tillandsia ionantha var. ionantha. This is a quite variable taxon ranging in size from 2 to nearly 15 cm in height. Tillandsia ionantha is distributed over a wide area from northeastern Mexico south to central Costa Rica in hot, seasonally dry habitats. The greatest range of variation seems to occur in Mexico and several odd types have been given cultivar names.
In addition to the typical variety, a long, caulescent, lithophytic population has been described as var. vanhyningii. It is restricted to the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico.
A third variety characterized by a scapose, occasionally compound inflorescence has been described as var. scaposa. As this plant has little in common morphologically with T. ionantha and occurs at much higher elevations in pine-oak cloud forests perhaps a better designation is T. kolbii described by Till and. Schatzl in Plant Systematics and Evolution 138, pages 259-262, 1981. Tillaridsia kolbii (T. ionantha var. scaposa) has, to the best of my knowledge, never been illustrated in the Journal. Collectors who acquire this plant (under either name) should be advised that conditions suitable for T. ionantha may be fatal to T. kolbii. Keep it damper and much cooler.
Harry E. Luther, M. B. Foster Bromeliad Identification Center The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida
- spread through Central America, all of Guatemala and also comes from San Salvador and Honduras. Is not endemic to Mexico. —SeeDie Bromelie
Other plants from Guatemala flowering in the Ehlers collection obtained from Meyer & Femo. Widely different plants came from Honduras and San Salvador.
All plants prove to be almost uniform within the normal wide variation.; —SeeDie Bromelie
The short illustrated note on Tillandsia ionantha in the March-April Journal requires a clarification. Both figures 7 and 8 represent Tillandsia ionantha var. ionantha. This is a quite variable taxon ranging in size from 2 to nearly 15 cm in height. Tillandsia ionantha is distributed over a wide area from northeastern Mexico south to central Costa Rica in hot, seasonally dry habitats. The greatest range of variation seems to occur in Mexico and several odd types have been given cultivar names.
In addition to the typical variety, a long, caulescent, lithophytic population has been described as var. vanhyningii. It is restricted to the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico.
A third variety characterized by a scapose, occasionally compound inflorescence has been described as var. scaposa. As this plant has little in common morphologically with T. ionantha and occurs at much higher elevations in pine-oak cloud forests perhaps a better designation is T. kolbii described by Till and. Schatzl in Plant Systematics and Evolution 138, pages 259-262, 1981. Tillaridsia kolbii (T. ionantha var. scaposa) has, to the best of my knowledge, never been illustrated in the Journal. Collectors who acquire this plant (under either name) should be advised that conditions suitable for T. ionantha may be fatal to T. kolbii. Keep it damper and much cooler.
Harry E. Luther, M. B. Foster Bromeliad Identification Center The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida —SeeLuther 1988ap. 38(4): 165
