Vriesea minor (L.B.Sm.) Leme
Literature references:
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Comments:
- General notes
The "Campos Rupestres" or "Grassland on Rocky Soils" begins at the Serra do Espinhaco, a mountain range near Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais State and stretches toward Bahia State with major isolated extensions in the States of Mato Grosso and Goias. The area has numerous outcrops of its quartzite and sandstone substrata occurring at altitudes of over 900 meters. The shallow soil of this unique highland ecosystem provides conditions that lead to dominance of a rich herbaceous vegetation, including several Bromeliaceae.
During a collecting trip crossing the region of Diamantina towards Serra do Cipo in 1991, we had the opportunity to search around the type locality of Vriesea bituminosa var. minor, and were lucky enough to find good specimens of it in fruiting stage. The plants were growing at an altitude of 1,110 meters on bare rocks that were exposed to full sunlight side by side with Orthophytum mello-barretoi and huge populations of Tillandsia streptocarpa.
The confirmation of the identity of the collected Vriesea came only recently, when a specimen started blooming in cultivation. So, on the basis of the information obtained during field activities and supported by the fresh details of the flowering specimen, comparison with the original description, personal field data obtained at the Terosopolis region, Rio de Janeiro State, and the photo of the holotype of the typical V. bituminosa (Till, 1994 ), I concluded that the taxon deserves the status of a distinct species. —See J. Bromeliad Soc.
