Tillandsia eizii L.B.Sm.

Literature references:

Bromtravels (Web) Chemnick & Koide 2018: 6 Claus 2011b: 2011(2): 57 Die Bromelie: 2004:90: 1993:82 FCBS (Web) Handler 2016: 141 J. Bromeliad Soc.: 70: 96: 4:89b 6:65b 32:160,170b 45:145,179,192 46:97,113 50:104,152 51:167 55:27 : 63(1):77 Oliva-Esteve 2002: 117 Phillips 2020b: 159,168,169 Phillips 2020b: 159,168,169 Roguenant 2001: 338 Smith & Downs 1977: 1008,1012 U.S. Nat. Herb. Veliz 2010: 30*

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Comments:

• Tillandsia eizii; an Ornithophilous plant by Robert Guess in J Brom Soc. 45: 178. 1995
  Tillandsia eizii L.B. Smith is an epiphytic bromeliad that grows in oak and pine forests of highland Chiapas, Mexico, and northwestern Guatemala. It is a species that thrives in moist, cool areas usually at altitudes varying between 1200 and 2500 meters. It depends solely on seed production and dispersal for its survival. An adverse condition is that the Maya Indians of the region gather and use the striking inflorescence for adornment in their religious ceremonies. Many specimens are also collected for sale in urban centers. In the process of a long-term study of this plant, I have observed hummingbirds pollinating its flowers thereby confirming ornithophily in the species.
  The specimen plants used in this study were inspected for development in situ at 2250 meters elevation near San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. As they approached maturity, they were selectively removed from their forest habitat. Each plant was carefully placed in an undisturbed, secure area with environmental conditions comparable to those from which they originated. The plants developed normally through their reproductive phases, progressing from inflorescence growth, flower development, anthesis, pollination, to seed formation and dispersal.
  As flowering began (figure 16), two species of hummingbirds, considered common, year-round residents of the region, carried out pollination: the White-eared Hummingbird (Hylocharis leucotis) and the Magnificent Hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens). These two pollinators visited Tillandsia eizii flowers on an almost daily basis during the most productive flowering months of December through February. They usually appeared in the early morning hours and one to two hours before sunset.
  Hylocharis leucotis is a relatively small hummingbird measuring 9 cm in length. In contrast, Eugenes fulgens is large for a hummingbird often reaching a length of 12.5 cm and having a relatively long, curved bill. Both species habitually approached the extended violet flowers of T. eizii with minimal hovering or timidity. Both are extremely territorial and interact aggressively whenever they encounter one another while foraging, especially H. leucotis. At least one of these hummingbirds, E. fulgens, has used seeds from dried T. eizii plants for nest lining (figure 17).
  Once the inflorescence of T. eizii dries and the capsules rupture, the liberated seeds are widely dispersed in the environment. Trees in the general vicinity of dried plants usually exhibit seeds clinging to areas of rough bark or in crevices. When the inflorescence is cut and removed from the plant body before seed dispersal, as frequently occurs, its natural reproductive cycle is terminated. Thus, widespread harvesting of these inflorescences by the Indians as well as the destruction of forested areas pose a problematic issue for the survival of this species.
  
  Reestablishment of Tillandsia eizii in a Protected Habitat by Robert Guess and Virginia Guess in J. Brom. Soc. 46(3);113-5. 1996
  Tillandsia eizii L.B. Smith is one of the most spectacular epiphytic bromeliads that grows in highland Chiapas, Mexico. Because of its extraordinary beauty, the indigenous Maya Indians and local Ladinos use the long pendulous inflorescence of tiered, soft pink bracts and green spikes to decorate their shrines, churches and private homes. They cut thousands each year.
  In a mature plant, the rosette of strap-like leaves often reaches a diameter of 1 meter with an inflorescence of up to 1.5 to 2 meters long. This monocarpic species reproduces exclusively by seed, and young plants require 8 to 10 years to mature. The fragile balance between present supply and demand for the prized inflorescence coupled with diminishing forests and increasing population in this southernmost state of Mexico potentially threaten the long-term survival of the species.
  Positive results from a feasibility study suggest a method to preserve significant numbers of this bromeliad and to reintroduce the species into a local forest where it once thrived. Our project involves four stages: 1) collection of plants from their natural habitat prior to the emergence of inflorescences; 2) a safe place for the plants to mature and set seeds; 3) a suitable growing environment where liberated seeds can germinate and develop; and 4) a long-term plan to protect this environment from indiscriminate cutting and harvesting of the inflorescences.
  Fortunately, we are associated with a Tzotzil-speaking Maya whose assistance is essential to the success of the project. As a participant in the religious cycle of his community where T. eizii is incorporated into the sacred rituals, his experience allows him to identify the plants before the distinctive inflorescences emerge.
  He gathers a supply of developing plants from remote forests and transports them to a large garden in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Here, for the next 18 months to 2 years, they continue their growth cycle and produce flowering inflorescences. After pollination by several species of hummingbirds, they eventually set seeds.
  Following our first experience with seed dispersal in the garden, however, very few new plants developed. We attributed this to the lack of necessary substratum on the trees, and looked for a more appropriate habitat. In the natural forest setting, oak trees provide the favored medium.
  The recent acquisition by a local Non-Government Organization (PRONATURA CHIAPAS) of 80 hectares of secondary-growth forest on the outer urban rim of San Cristobal de Las Casas offered a solution to our dilemma. Up to the early 1900s when it was completely cut over, this oak-forested area mixed with a few pine and madrone trees supported a variety of bromeliad species, including T. eizii.
  The Maya Indians who live in adjacent hamlets have used the network of footpaths that traverse this forest for centuries. They also have cut the trees for firewood and harvested most of the large flowering bromeliads. Today only scattered remnants of 10 to 15 species of generally small Tillandsias grow in this regenerating forest.
  In January of 1995, we removed four mature plants from the garden prior to dehiscence of their seed capsules and transported them to the PRONATURA CHIAPAS Reserve. Our associate then attached the plants high in separate oak trees in a less accessible area away from the well-traveled paths. One year later, hundreds of small plants of T. eizii, each measuring approximately 5 mm in height, covered the upper portions of these four trees. We intend to continue monitoring the growth of these new plants and to record their progress.
  The administrators of PRONATURA CHIAPAS plan to maintain the forest as a biological reserve. This gives us the opportunity to expand the project and possibly reestablish significant numbers of T. eizii in the area. By using additional public and private gardens to care for developing plants where the townspeople can observe the life cycle, we hope to raise the level of awareness in the community about this threatened bromeliad.
  Such a reintroduction of a species requires community education, long-term commitment, and patience. At least two decades may pass before T. eizii will again reestablish itself in the Reserve. If successful, this forest may be one of the few accessible areas where residents and visitors alike can appreciate the beauty of this bromeliad in a natural habitat.
  
  Tillandsia juerg-rutschmannii and Tillandsia eizii Revisited: Two pendulous Bromeliads of Chiapas by Virginia Guess and Robert Guess in J. Brom. Soc. 50: 99-103. 2000
  
  In 1984, Jurg Rutschmann reported a new species of Tillandsia growing on the steep, limestone walls of Canon del Sumidero, near Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, Mexico. Astounded that this bromeliad with its large, striking inflorescence, could remain unknown within the confines of the popular Parque Nacional del Sumidero, he sent a specimen for verification to Werner Rauh in Heidelberg. Professor Rauh (1985) subsequently described the species and named it in honor of Rutschmann: Tillandsia juerg-rutschmannii Rauh (Lineham 1990).
  How this extraordinary tillandsia escaped the attention of previous botanical surveys of the canyon is indeed problematic. At the time of discovery, Rutschmann (1984) noted that most of the specimens were in flower. While giving no indication of the relative abundance, he did mention the near absence of any immature or juvenile specimens. He further suggested that this was a highly synchronized plant community in which plants flower within a given span of time. Thus, unless an observer was fortunate to be in the canyon during this period, the species could go unnoticed.
  Tillandsia juerg-rutschmannii is currently known to grow only at this cliff site. The plants cling to sheer rock faces that soar 800 meters above the Rio Grijalva as it flows through a deep, narrow channel in the gorge on its course to the Gulf of Mexico. The isolated habitat is located a few kilometers down river from the mouth of Canon del Sumidero, a geological landmark defining where the Central Depression of Chiapas ends and the Chiapas Plateau or Highland Chiapas begins.
  In January, 2000, we observed a flowering specimen of T. juerg-rutschmannii from the edge of the canyon at an altitude of 1200 meters. Needing a better look at the species, we engaged a boatman from the nearby embarcadero to transport us to the area on the river directly below. The launch, by far, provided the best viewing platform to examine a few examples at close range, and to scan others with binoculars. The population appeared to extend for about two kilometers on the river where we estimated some four hundred plants, in varying sizes and stages of development, scattered on the canyon walls. From our vantage point, we saw only solitary plants. Most grew on the shadier, east facing cliffs, from slightly above the water level at an altitude of 400 meters up to the sharp rim of the canyon.
  The plant bodies form dense, upright rosettes that can be mistaken, from a distance, for a Vriesea or other soft-leafed, large-bodied Tillandsia. They attain a height of approximately 50 centimeters, with broad, green leaves, about 60 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide. Even in the dry season, these rosettes fill with moisture from the mists that often shroud this breath-taking gorge. The pale-pink, pendulous inflorescences with pencil-thin scapes and spikes are well camouflaged amidst the deep shadows cast by the soaring cliffs. The primary bracts, a rose color on the surface exposed to the sun, appear pale green when viewed from the underside.
  We observed only two plants in flower: one, on the rim of the canyon, suspended precipitously from the edge; and the other, some five meters above the river. The small, delicate, violet flowers can barely be seen on the cascading inflorescence which extends to over 150 centimeters long. Although we noted no axillary offshoots on any of the plants, we did see adventitious offsets on the bases of several maturing specimens. Within our limited viewing range, we saw only six plants with dried inflorescences, most with evidence of recent flowering. Only one of the older specimens was in the dehiscent phase.
  Of the over 160 species of Bromeliaceae recorded for Chiapas, Tillandsia eizii L.B. Smith is one with several characteristics similar to T. juerg-rutschmannii. Both are endemic, noteworthy for their pendulous inflorescences, known to reproduce primarily by seeds, and require years to reach maturity. In addition, adventitious offsets are often found on both species. They inhabit, however, different environmental niches.
  In contrast to the relatively unknown, saxicolous T. juerg-rutschmannii, T. eizii, with a robust, pink inflorescence, up to two meters long, is a well documented epiphyte of Highland Chiapas. It grows at altitudes ranging from 1200 to 2400 meters in the oak-pine forests of the Central Plateau, some fifty kilometers east of Canon del Sumidero, and even farther afield in the Sierra Madre and northern highlands. Although T. eizii has also been reported in the Department of Huehuetenango (western highlands of Guatemala), we have no recent evidence that the species survives in this heavily-deforested region.
  Tillandsia eizii is named after Eizi Matuda, a Japanese-born botanist who arrived in Chiapas in 1922, and later became a leading authority on the flora of the state with a special interest in bromeliads. In 1951, he collected a tillandsia from the forest at Siltepec, in southeastern Chiapas, at an altitude of 1200 meters, identifying it as T. violacea. The plant eventually made its way to the United States National Herbarium. A number of years later, L.B: Smith (1977) re-examined the specimen, described it as a new species, and named it in honor of Professor Matuda.
  Even with its high visibility and notoriety, T. eizii has been plagued by an unfortunate confusion in nomenclature. This may in part be due to a somewhat superficial resemblance to other pendulous bromeliads from other states of Mexico, namely T. prodigiosa (Lemaire) Bake and T. violacea Baker. More importantly, however, T. eizii was not described until 1974, well after the appearance of numerous publications about a pendulous tillandsia used in Chiapas for religious ceremonies and decorative purposes. In these accounts, the plant was identified either as T. prodigiosa, or more often, as T. violacea.
  While Blackburn (1982) clearly outlined the differences between T. eizii and T. prodigiosa, a similar distinction has not been made between T. eizii and T. violacea. Only Utley (1994) notes that since T. violacea is not known to occur in Chiapas, all references to a pendulous tillandsia in that state as T. violacea undoubtedly refer to T. eizii.
  With an increasing population in Highland Chiapas asserting new demands for land once covered by dense forests, the numbers of T. eizii are in sharp decline. Where ten years ago the species could be easily seen throughout the Highlands, now it exists in abundance only in pockets of more remote forests. As an indication of diminishing numbers, during the Christmas season of 1999, when we would expect the market of San Cristobal de Las Casas to be filled with bromeliads, we found only a handful of T. eizii. —See Smith & Downs 1977