DISTRI BUTION & HABITAT
Nidularium amorimii is endemic to the Atlantic forest of southern Bahia, especially in Una municipality. Its distribution is concentrated in the northernmost range of the genus. It is terrestrial or less often epiphytic in the lower layer of the forest, from near sea level to almost 800 m altitude in the mountains farther inland. In these montane regions, the
vegetation has a typical, moist Atlantic slope forest physionomy where we also find characteristic species such as Aechmea nudicaulis and N. innocentii with a wine-colored dorsal leaf surface similar to that of some populations found in the Serra dos Orgaos in Rio de Janeiro. Vriesea flammea also occurs in this area, as do V. rodigasiana, V. vagans and other species. Vriesea flammea was formerly known only from Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
This new species flowers mainly in February and March and is protected in the Lion Tamarin Biological Reserve at Una, Bahia. There is only one clone in cultivation, a direct descendent of the type specimen. —SeeLeme 2000a
