Misnamed Bromeliads 21: Neoregelia camorimiana vs. fluminensis by Harry E. Luther in J Brom Soc 58(5): 220. 2008
I continue to find a bright red stoloniferous neoregelia labeled as Neoregelia fluminensis in Florida bromeliad collections. Neoregelia fluminensis L.B. Smith, was col¬lected by Mulford and Racine Foster in 1940 near the mountain city of Teresopolis in Rio de Janeiro State. It has not been recollected. In addition, it has scurfy green leaves not at all like the shiny red cultivated plant. Now that we know what it isn't, do we know what the red plant is? Neoregelia camorimiana Pereira & Penna, was collected in 1983 by the well known bromeliad explorer and restranteur extroardinaire, Luis Corrieia de Araujo on the southern coast of Rio State. It was compared to N. indecora but with highly colored foliage and slightly different floral bracts, neither character inspiring much confidence in the highly plastic genus Neoregelia. At any rate, the red plant can be identified as N. camorimiana or even N. indecora or N. olens depending on ones "splitter" or "lumper" tendencies. —SeeSmith & Downs 1979
