This record can be deleted, see Luther 1999f and Read & Read 1981
Known only from the type collection, cultivated by Dennis and Daris Cathcart of Bradenton, Florida. The original plant was collected in sterile condition as an epiphyte in September of 1977 at Rancho Grande, Venezuela at approximately 1067 m. (3500') elevation.
Note: This is an extremely peculiar find, in that this species resembles plants of the subgenus Neoregelia in the distinct pedicels making a sharp contrast with the base of the stout ovary, but it most closely resembles Neo. eleutheropetala of the subgenus Hylaeaicum in general habit. Neoregelia cathcartii differs from Neo. eleutheropetala primarily in the simple inflorescence, the long slender distinct pedicels, the character of the sepals, and pale leaf sheaths. This species can also be distinguished from other similar species by the leaf blades being inconspicuously lepidote beneath, the apex of the leaf not semicircular, and the inflorescence with many flowers.
Notes by Harry Luther in J Brom Soc 49(2): 55-6. 1999
Neoregelia cathcartii C. F. Reed & R. W. Read has been a mysterious and controversial plant since its description (Reed & Read, 1981). The authors were uncertain as to its placement in Neoregelia. They compared it to N. eleutheropetala in subgenus Hylaeaicum even though the flowers of their new species were typical for subgenus Neoregelia in size, shape and coloration. Even the shape and texture of the leaves of N. cathcartii are quite different from N. eleutheropetala and its relatives, being rather thin-leathery with the leaf tips broadly acute and apiculate, not tough, thick and rather fibrous with acute to acuminate and pungent leaf tips. It is quite certain that its affinities are not in the Amazonian subgenus of Neoregelia ( A consensus is rapidly building that the subgenus Hylaeaicum is misplaced in Neoregelia (Leme, 1997, Ramirez, 1991, 1994) and that its closest relatives are elsewhere, perhaps in Aechmea s.l. The densely compound inflorescences of many of the Hylaeaicum species and their coriaceous bracts and sepals are similar to Aechmea rodriguesiana from the same general region.) but what is not at all certain is what are its closest relatives in the typical Brazilian subgenus of Neoregelia. The bracts and flowers of N. cathcartii somewhat resemble those on N. macrosepala, farinosa, and magdalenae but in other features it seems quite distinct.
Neoregelia cathcartii is known from a single collection from northern Venezuela from the Parque Nacional Rancho Grande in Aragua State. The fact that it has never been recollected and that it was described from a cultivated plant several years after the collecting expedition (labels sometimes migrate in greenhouses) has been cause for concern. But as negative evidence (no further information about its distribution) is not a proof of anything, I consider it to be yet another rain forest mystery and hope that someday additional specimens will be discovered.
Because N. cathcartii was not illustrated when described, a photo and drawing of the clonotype plant are here included. I also note that I have seen, in cultivation, compact and colorfully marked plants labeled as N. cathcartii; I doubt that these are correctly identified. —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
