Aechmea strobilina (Beurl.) L.B.Sm. & Read

Literature references:

Baensch & Baensch 1994: 60 Bromtravels (Web) FCBS (Web) J. Bromeliad Soc.: 35:104 Oliva-Esteve & Steyermark 1987: 90 Oliva-Esteve 2006: 315 Phytologia: 33:442 Smith & Downs 1979: 1805,1807: 1805* Smith 1939a: 124:8 Tropicos Wien Herbarium, Inst

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Comments:

• Rediscovered?
  While on a collecting and research trip to Panama in January 1985, Aechmea strobilina (Beurling) L. B. Smith & R. W. Read was found in full glorious bloom, proving to be an irresistible beauty in the wilds of Panama. In order to thwart any wholesale collecting in an area now protected, exact details as to the collection site will be left for history. It is sufficient to state that while the single plant found in flower was in an isolated, sickly tree in the middle of a vast, cleared area, the natural distribution of the species was observed to be on the Atlantic watershed of eastern Panama in the Cordilleras de San Blas. Being in the company of Jeffrey Kent, an enthusiastic bromeliad collector in his own right, his father, Leonard, a knowledgeable bromeliad fancier of note, and Bill Knerr of the San Diego Zoo, it was easy to get carried away. Using a makeshift ladder provided by the the apparent custodian of the cleared area, I was able to reach the plant which was lodged in the fork of the trunk. Throwing caution regarding scorpions, snakes, spiders, ants, etc. to the wind I managed to dislodge the plant.
  There is now quite a respectable specimen in the U.S. National Herbarium. My heightened interest in a specimen will be clear in a moment, but first I must grieve a little for the loss of the plant intended to be introduced alive. Although each and every individual plant species collected on this trip, from many locations throughout Panama, was carefully cleaned, washed under hose pressure, brushed with a toothbrush, and trimmed carefully, and given labels indicating collection locality, the finding of a single scale of unknown identity resulted in the entire bundle of individually wrapped plants being subjected to gassing in the smoke house of Miami. Alas, the aechmea succumbed along with many other species intended for the research greenhouse at the Smithsonian. Such are the frustrations of live plant collecting for my research.
  Aechmea strobilina was represented in the U.S. National Herbarium by only a xerox copy of the original 1826 collection that is permanently preserved in the Botanical Museum Stockholm. Oh, I know the species has been, and may still be in cultivation, because when I was at The Fairchild Tropical Garden back in the 50's I remember a plant which I called Aechmea dactylina being cultivated. This plant originated with Graham Fairchild and was collected somewhere in Panama. Perhaps a specimen is in the herbarium there at Fairchild Tropical Garden, I don't know. At any rate, that plant was Aechmea strobilina as we know it today. The species was originally collected as a "Billbergia " near Porto Bello, Prov. of Colon, but until the type specimen of Bromelia strobilina, described by Beurling in 1854, was actually examined in 1975 by Dr. Smith, the true identity of the species was not clear. True Ae. dactylina is closely related but is quite different and grows throughout the same area.
  Ae. dactylina may in fact represent two similar but different species, or it may be that the species is extremely variable in the elongation of the spikelets. Research is needed to clear up this new problem, to include growing different, wild, collected plants of the complex under identical experimental conditions and studying their development and flowering . —See Smith & Downs 1979
• Aechmea strobilina, Rediscovered? by Robert W. Read
  
  While on a collecting and research trip to Panama in January 1985, Aechmea strobilina (Beurling) L. B. Smith & R. W. Read was found in full glorious bloom, proving to be an irresistible beauty in the wilds of Panama. In order to thwart any wholesale collecting in an area now protected, exact details as to the collection site will be left for history. It is sufficient to state that while the single plant found in flower was in an isolated, sickly tree in the middle of a vast, cleared area, the natural distribution of the species was observed to be on the Atlantic watershed of eastern Panama in the Cordilleras de San Blas. Being in the company of Jeffrey Kent, an enthusiastic bromeliad collector in his own right, his father, Leonard, a knowledgeable bromeliad fancier of note, and Bill Knerr of the San Diego Zoo, it was easy to get carried away. Using a makeshift ladder provided by the the apparent custodian of the cleared area, I was able to reach the plant which was lodged in the fork of the trunk. Throwing caution regarding scorpions, snakes, spiders, ants, etc. to the wind I managed to dislodge the plant.
  There is now quite a respectable specimen in the U.S. National Herbarium. My heightened interest in a specimen will be clear in a moment, but first I must grieve a little for the loss of the plant intended to be introduced alive. Although each and every individual plant species collected on this trip, from many locations throughout Panama, was carefully cleaned, washed under hose pressure, brushed with a toothbrush, and trimmed carefully, and given labels indicating collection locality, the finding of a single scale of unknown identity resulted in the entire bundle of individually wrapped plants being subjected to gassing in the smoke house of Miami. Alas, the aechmea succumbed along with many other species intended for the research greenhouse at the Smithsonian. Such are the frustrations of live plant collecting for my research.
  Aechmea strobilina was represented in the U.S. National Herbarium by only a xerox copy of the original 1826 collection that is permanently preserved in the Botanical Museum Stockholm. Oh, I know the species has been, and may still be in cultivation, because when I was at The Fairchild Tropical Garden back in the 50's I remember a plant which I called Aechmea dactylina being cultivated. This plant originated with Graham Fairchild and was collected somewhere in Panama. Perhaps a specimen is in the herbarium there at Fairchild Tropical Garden, I don't know. At any rate, that plant was Aechmea strobilina as we know it today. The species was originally collected as a "Billbergia " near Porto Bello, Prov. of Colon, but until the type specimen of Bromelia strobilina, described by Beurling in 1854, was actually examined in 1975 by Dr. Smith, the true identity of the species was not clear. True Ae. dactylina is closely related but is quite different and grows throughout the same area.
  Ae. dactylina may in fact represent two similar but different species, or it may be that the species is extremely variable in the elongation of the spikelets. Research is needed to clear up this new problem, to include growing different, wild, collected plants of the complex under identical experimental conditions and studying their development and flowering . —See Rauh 1985g p. 104-105