Aechmea gracilis Lindman – Article in Bromeliaceae (Qld Journal) #3, 1999
“Yes! This does exist - and No! it is not the same as Aechmea organensis which frequently goes under that name. Aechmea gracilis differs from A. organensis by having larger flowers (ca. 20 - 25mm long versus 13 - 17mm long) and a much fewer branched inflorescence. In addition. the colours are different although how consistent this will be is unknown as I know only a single clone of A. gracilis. The half dozen or so clones of A. organensis that I’ve seen have all been with light blue petals. The photographed plant was collected in December 1996 in wet Atlantic forest in the vicinity of Mangaritiba. Rio de Janeiro State and it was flowered at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.” H a r r y Luther
Not aware of discussions between Harry Luther and Derek Butcher I wrote to Harry asking about the ..”Yes! this does exist - and No! it is not the same. ". Harry wrote back telling me he had asked Derek to fill me in on the history of confusion regarding A. gracilis and A. organensis. The following is from a letter from Derek. Ed.
The true identification of Aechmea gracilis and Aechmea organensis has been a long saga. with Peter Franklin and myself on one side and Harry on the other. It must have been in the mid 1980s that I did my first dissection. It was an Aechmea of the sub-genus Ortgiesia and I worked out it was either A. gracilis or A. organensis. I got Ken Robinson to video my efforts and when Ken was in Queensland he proudly showed his video to Grace Goode. Grace took the opportunity of showing her A. gracilis with the comment that mine was wrongly named. So my plant became A. ‘Derek's organensis ha ha’. We looked hard and long at A. organensis and came up with two forms. One of these we called the Queensland form where the ovary and sepals were pinker in colour than the NSW form. Every photograph and information we had on A. gracilis was sent to Harry and all came back as 'small' A. organensis !
We grew the 'small' A. gracilis that had been in Australia for years and the A. organensis with large inflorescences. Peter was able to get a plant with a medium sized inflorescence from Olive Trevor so we started to believe that Harry might be right after all. A. organensis could vary from small to large! Perhaps we didn’t have A. gracilis after all! (Bromeliaceae Qld, AU)
From Bromeliaceae ( Qld Journal) #3 1999
Yes! This does exist - and No! it is not the same as Aechmea organensis which frequently goes under that name. Aechmea gracilis differs from A. organensis by having larger flowers (ca. 20 - 25mm long versus 13 - 17mm long) and a much fewer branched inflorescence. In addition. the colours are different although how consistent this will be is unknown as I know only a single clone of A. gracilis. The half dozen or so clones of A. organensis that I've seen have all been with light blue petals. The photographed plant was collected in December 1996 in wet Atlantic forest in the vicinity of Mangaritiba. Rio de Janeiro State and it was flowered at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens." H a r r y Luther
Not aware of discussions between Harry Luther and Derek Butcher I wrote to Harry asking about the .."Yes! this does exist - and No! it is not the same. ". Harry wrote back telling me he had asked Derek to fill me in on the history of confusion regarding A. gracilis and A. organensis. The following is from a letter from Derek. Ed.
The true identification of Aechmea gracilis and Aechmea organensis has been a long saga. with Peter Franklin and myself on one side and Harry on the other. It must have been in the mid 1980s that I did my first dissection. It was an Aechmea of the sub-genus Ortgiesia and I worked out it was either A. gracilis or A. organensis. I got Ken Robinson to video my efforts and when Ken was in Queensland he proudly showed his video to Grace Goode. Grace took the opportunity of showing her A. gracilis with the comment that mine was wrongly named. So my plant became A. 'Derek's organensis ha ha'. We looked hard and long at A. organensis and came up with two forms. One of these we called the Queensland form where the ovary and sepals were pinker in colour than the NSW form. Every photograph and information we had on A. gracilis was sent to Harry and all came back as 'small' A. organensis !
We grew the 'small' A. gracilis that had been in Australia for years and the A. organensis with large inflorescences. Peter was able to get a plant with a medium sized inflorescence from Olive Trevor so we started to believe that Harry might be right after all. A. organensis could vary from small to large! Perhaps we didn't have A. gracilis after all! —SeeSmith & Downs 1979
