United States of America. Puerto Rico Orocovis Bo. Ala de la Piedra, Toro Negro Forest Reserve, E end of Lago el Guineo, near houses at beginning of road to dam, disturbed wet mountain forest, ca. 920 m, 26 VIII 1993, Axelrod 6935 (neotype designated: US; Isoneotypes designated: B, MARY, NY, SEL, UPRRP). —SeeGrant 1997a
Taxonomy. Vriesea macrostachya belongs to a clade within Vriesea section Xiphion characterizcd by nocturnal flowering. In gross morphology, the taxa within the section can be easily confused with members of Werauhia sect. Werauhia. There are however, no members of Werauhia sect. Werauhia without a truly secund arrangement of flowers, and those of V. macrostachya are distichous rather than secund. The more defining characters of its position in Vriesea are its convolute-blade type stigma morphology and its simple, tongue-shaped petal appendages.
Anthesis and flowering syndrome. Vriesea macrostachya blooms nocturnally from early August through mid September, Dr Axelrod has observed that in Puerto Rico flowers begin opening around 2400 hrs, and reach their maximum opening of 0.5-1.0 cm wide at 0400 hr, and begin to deliquesce around 0530 hr. No pollinators were observed.
Introduction
Although Vriesea macrostachya (Bello) Mez (Caraguata macrostachya Bello) was dcscribed from Puerto Rico in 1883, and has since been widely recognized in numerous floras, no type specimen has ever been located. Furthermore, due to its poor original description coupled with later inadequatc descriptions in standard floras, the taxon has developed a dubious status. Though a common species, it is known on!y from a few miscellaneous herbarium collections likely due to the hesitation of many collectors to collect such big, bulky bromeliads.
History
Bello ( 1883) dcscribed Caraguata macrostachya as a new species from Puerto Rico. Mez ( 1896) transferred the taxon to Vriesea, where it has since bcen consistently recognized Britton ( 1923) citing the earlier generic homonym Vriesea Hasskarl ( !842) (Scrophulariaceae) of Vriesea Lindley ( 1843) (Bromeliaceae ), proposed the new generic name Neovriesea Britton to replace Vriesea Lindley, ignoring thc fact that Vriesea had been conserved (over Hexalepis Rafinesque ( 1838)) by the 1905 Vienna Congress, and published in its Procccdings (Briquet 1906). Britton transferred a single species, Neovriesea macrostachya (Bello) Britton, but not Tillandsia psittacina W .J. Hooker ( Vriesea psittacina ( WJ Hooker) Lindley), the type of the genus In the two modern monographs of the Bromeliaceae, both Mez ( 1935) and Smith & Downs ( 1977) recognized Caraguata macrostachya in Vriesea. Vriesea macrostachya belongs to Vriesea sect. Xiphion sensu Grant ( 1995 )
Neotypification
Caraguata macrostachya was described by thc Spanish botanist Domingo Bello y Espinosa (1817-1884) from plants that he and/or Carl Wilhelm Leopold Krug (1833-1898) collected in Puerto Rico between 1848-1878, or from an illustration prepared by Krug. Although the collections of both men were sent to Berlin none of their material of this taxon is extant, nor has a Krug illustration been found. Krug prepared numerous color plates of Puerto Rican plants. If an illustration of Caraguata macrostachya existed, it could be considered original material and therefore a potential lectotype. However, his Krug'schen Icones (i.e Flora Portoricensis) is no longer extant at Berlin (fide Stafleu & Cowan 1979) and verified by Peter Hirsch, Head Librarian, Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B) (pers comm., X 1993).
In spite of this apparent loss of authentic material, it is possible that there never was any original material as Urban ( 1: 9. 1898) states. "Die Originalien zu Bello's Arbeit sind im Herbar Krug et Urb. und in den Krug'schen Icones niedergelegt. Nur wenige Arten sind weder durch Pflanzcn noch durch Abbildungen vertreten." (Thc originals of Bello's work (ie. Apuntes para la Flora de Puerto-Rico) are in the Krug & Urban Herbarium (i.e Bcrlin (B)) and in the stored Krug'schen Icones (i.e. = Flora Portoriccnsis, a number of missing colored plate drawings of Puerto Rican plants that had been preparcd by Krug) Only a few species are based on plants or drawings)
Another reason for suggesting that there was never any original material is that both Mez ( 1896 & 1935 ) and Smith & Downs ( 1977) were unable to find authentic material while preparing their monographic treatments of the Bromeliaceae Therefore, if ever extant, the material either became lost between 1883-1896, or was destroyed in the 1944 bombing of the Berlin herbarium (although most if not all of the bromeliad specimens and bromeliad types did in fact survive) In May of 1992 and March of 1996, I myself searched the herbaria at Berlin, and Dr Bert Leuenberger (B) in September of 1993 to no avail Since no material has been found, a neotype is desirable.
Instead of simply designating an already-existing specimen as the neotype, new material was collected so that fresh specimens could be examined and to insure that several sheets would be available for distribution. Dr Franklin Axelrod, University of Puerto Rico at Rio Pedras, collected and photographed plants, pickled flowers, made detailed observations on floral morphology, and recorded the nocturnal flowering period.
Distribution: Vriesea macrostachya occurs with certainty only in the Greater Antilles on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. It likely evolved from northern extensions of either V. platynema Gaudichaud or V. bituminosa Wawra. Specimens previously identified as Vriesea macrostachya from Trinidad and Venezuela are likely misidentifications of either two species. —SeeGrant 1997a
