General notes
In November of 1990, during an expedition to Santa Catarina State, Jones C.da Silva, a bromeliad enthusiast of Rio Grande do Sul, Luiz Claudio Marigo, and I came across a vast, blooming population of a new Vriesea species in the neighborhood of the pleasant town called Campo Alegra. The predominant color of the species, yellow, was everywhere, decorating the pine-forested landscape.
This species, for which I propose the name Vriesea reitzii to honor the memory of Father Raulino Reitz is surprisingly common in the pine forest (Araucaria angustifolia} in the states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, and probably Parana. It grows epiphytically, seldom on the ground, at altitudes from 750 up to 1,200 meters, or higher, where the temperature could fall easily below zero degrees Centigrade.
It was only a few days before our discovery that we learned about this ornamental species from Alvim Seidel, who had the plant identified as Vriesea philippocoburgii. In fact, in a broader conception adopted by Father Reitz, the new species had been misnamed as V. philippocoburgii. Our opinion, however, is that the new species can be visually differentiated by taking into consideration the typical populations from the Organ Mountains of Rio de Janeiro. The type specimen of Vriesea philippocoburgii was collected there and then typified by means of Wawra's beautiful painting. Vriesea reitzii is in fact related to Vriesea philippocoburgii but differs from it by the yellowish-green leaf blades with transverse, darker green lines, the yellow primary bracts, the branches with usually naked peduncles, as well as by the yellow floral bracts, strongly carinate and incurved toward the apex, and the yellow rachis.
In Santa Catarina, the evidence suggests that Vriesea philippocoburgii concentrates its populations from sea level to about 500 meters. It is found growing at higher elevations, however, inside the Atlantic rain forest as well as the restinga vegetation of the state of Rio de Janeiro. With that protective cover it avoids the colder zones.
Vriesea reitzii, on the other hand, is well adapted to the colder temperatures of higher altitudes, thus coinciding with the domain of the Brazilian pine. That being the case, temperature could be one of the most restricting factors of the differing altitude habitat preferences of these species. —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
