By Derek Butcher Sth. Australia in Bromeletter 33(6): 8. 1995
Those who were at the Adelaide Conference would have heard Renate Ehlers suggesting that T. kolbii was not the same as T. ionantha var. scaposa. Ever curious, I obtained the " original description, translated it and have enclosed the translation for the keen Tillandsia growers to have a look at.
I had assumed that the inflorescence was polystichous in line with the description in Smith & Downs (page 912). Here T. ionantha v. scaposa is shown to be an "ionantha" with a short scape (or flower stem). This is how it appears in my °Tillandsia" key!!
BUT I now see that the "true" T. kolbii has a simple distichous inflorescence and long floral bracts, to name just two differences.
This summer I will be looking more closely at my Tillandsia "kolbii" and checking to see what plant I do have. Can I suggest that other owners of this plant do the same? If you are a bit uncertain about the names of plant parts, details are in the front section of the 'Amateurs Guide'.
Reference - Plant Syst. and Evolution 138, 259-262, 1981.
Discussion Corner by Bertie Bromel in NZ Bulletin June 1997
Dear Bertie.
"People keep telling me to relabel my Tillandsia ionantha var scaposa as T. kolbii. Is this true?
Fuzzled of Petone.
Hmmmm. Bertie's first smart remark is, that depends on whether your plant is T. kolbii or T. ionantha var scaposa! But, of course, conventional wisdom has been telling us that T. ionantha var. scaposa is a synonym for T. kolbii. [Interestingly, the editor's word processor has this cute trick of providing what it calls a tip of the day, when it has nothing better to do. The current one reads "You should never dive into murky waters" I suspect that is just what Bertie is about to do. It is, of course, something his Uncle Derek would never do-Ed].
Is there one population of closely related plants out there which some people call ionantha var scaposa and another lot call kolbii? Or are there two different populations, corresponding to the two names? The current BSI list of valid bromeliad binomials (ie., a generic and a specific name) recognises only T. kolbii, and lists ionantha var. scaposa as a synonym ie., an alternate, incorrect, name for the same species. The Director of the Bromeliad Identification Centre, Harry Luther, has written:
"A third variety [of ionantha] characterised by a scapose, occasionally compound inflorescence has been described as var. scaposa. As this plant has little in common morphologically with T. ionantha and occurs at much higher elevations in pine-oak cloud forests perhaps a better designation is T. kolbii described by Till and Schatzl.... Collectors who acquire this plant (under either name) should be advised that conditions suitable for T. ionantha may be fatal to T. kolbii. Keep it damper and much cooler."'
It seems clear, then, that we are supposed to have just the one population with two names. To put the question in a local perspective, the Editor has kindly supplied our cover photos of one of his plants, identified as AF261, that was labelled Tillandsia ionantha var. scaposa when he bought it from Len, and which is typical of the plant we have in our collections under that name. But this is the one we are being told to relabel as Tillandsia kolbii (Till & Schatzl 1981). In fact Eric Gouda, Curator of Collections at the University of Utrecht Botanic Gardens has identified the photo on our front cover as representing T. kolbii.
Lets have a look at some history. The story seems to go as follows. In 1941 L.B. Smith described a plant known as "Standley 63065" and called it Tillandsia ionantha var. scaposa. Plants were collected in Guatemala, where it is naturalised at altitudes of 1500 to 1950m according to Smith & Downs (page 913). It was distinguished from T. ionantha var ionantha in virtue of it having a short flower scape (stem) whereas var. ionantha has no scape. Hence "scaposa." And one assumes that the rest of this plant's characteristics are consistent with T. ionantha, to which it is supposedly more closely related than it is to any other species. And for many years, plants labelled as T. ionantha var. scaposa have been available in the horticultural trade.
Then, in 1981, the taxonomist Walter Till and S. Schatzl described a plant collected in Oaxaca, Mexico at a place called Sierra Madre del Sur near Copala (ca 40km WSW of Tlaxiaco) naturalised on oak trees at 1750 to 2000m. They named it T. kolbii, and it is this population that we are being told includes T. ionantha var scaposa (L.B. Smith, 1941) from Guatemala.
There remains the prospect that there are, in fact, two distinct populations... Murmurings of this began to surface in 1995, and that scourge of taxonomists Uncle Derek reported as follows:
"Those who were at the Adelaide Conference [Easter 1995] would have heard Renate Ehlers suggesting that T. kolbii was not the same as T. ionantha var scaposa. Ever curious, I obtained the original description in Smith & Downs (page 912) (sic). Here T. ionantha v. scaposa is shown to be an "ionantha" with a short scape (or flower stem). This is how it appears in my "Tillandsia" key!!
BUT I now see that the "true" T. kolbii has a simple distichous inflorescence and long floral bracts, to name just two differences. This summer I will be looking more closely at my Tillandsia "kolbii" and checking to see what plant I do have. Can I suggest that other owners of this plant do the same? If you are a bit uncertain about the names of plant parts, details are in the front section of the `Amateurs Guide'. "'
Derek then translated the Till & Schatzl description of T. kolbii as follows:
Plant - flowering l0cm high, stemless
Leaves - densely rosulate, slightly flexuous towards the left, moderately thin and soft, pale green, densely white lepidote, up to 9cm long. Leaf sheath - inside almost dark brown, gradually merging with blade, 7-8mm wide, edges almost involute.
Leaf blade - narrow triangular, thin acute.
Scape - short, 3-4cm long.
Scape bracts - leaf like, pale green & light purple towards the tip, densely covering the scape.
Inflorescence - erect, simple, distichous, 4cm long, 1.8cm wide, 5 flowered.
Floral bracts - leaf like, 3 to 3.5cm long, lanceolate, pale green, lepidote, 1.5 times longer than the sepals, ecarinate.
Flower - sub-sessile.
Sepals - sub-glabrous, all barely connate, narrow elliptic, obtuse, green, edges white membranous, half as long as the petals.
Petals - purple violet, the bottom third white, making an erect tube, 3.5cm long.
Filament - thin, white, the upper part thickened and violet, slightly twisted, a little shorter than the petals.
Anthers - short, lmm long, yellow. Stigma - green; Style white.
Ovary - egg shaped, pale green.
There do seem to be some problems trying to match the plant AF261, with this official description of T. kolbii, for example:
The filament is the stalk supporting the stamen - which can be seen clearly on the back cover closeup sticking up above the pollen bearing anthers. In T. kolbii it is described as thin and white with the upper part thickened and violet, and being a little shorter than the petals. In AF261 the upper part is still white, and it is considerably longer than the petals. In fact, this fits with L.B. Smith's description of ionantha as having "...stamens and pistil long-exserted...."
In T. ionantha the floral bracts are said to be shorter than the sepals, in T. kolbii they are said to be 1.5 times as long. In AF261 the floral bracts are also consistent with the T. ionantha description.
In T. kolbii, the sepals are said to be green with white edges, whereas AF261 sepals are a paler violet than the petals which is more in keeping with a typical ionantha flower.
In AF261 the inner leaf sheathes are light green, not brown at all. Interestingly, the plant flowers more vigorously some seasons, and in a bad spring the inflorescence is depauperate and hides in the floral bracts a bit like T. kolbii!
Where does all this leave us? With more work to do! Hopefully our scientific officer, Peter Waters, will be inspired to look out for plants labelled as scaposa or kolbii and flowering this summer, and check their vital characteristics against the taxonomic descriptions. Hopefully Uncle Derek has done more research and will bring us up to date. Only then will Bertie venture to offer an opinion as to what we should be labelling our plants what look like AF261!
References:
1. Harry Luther, "Clarification", Journal of The Bromeliad Society Inc., July-August 1988, p. 165
2. W. Till & S. Schatzl, Plant Syst. and Evolution 138, 259-262, 1981. 3. Derek Butcher, "Tillandsia kolbii", Bromeletter, November/December 1995 p. 8
Comment by Butcher
?natural hybrid see below
from R Ehlers in Die Bromelie 3/1999 This information deviates from the original description and it appears that the inflorescence is always polystichous not distichous, flowers white not purple-white. (to the one exception that the flower was light violet)
See Die Bromelie 3: 1999 by Ehlers under T. delicata
Tillandsia kolbii TILL & SCHATZL has a restricted endemic range of distribution in Mexico, State of Oaxaca, in the area around Copala
Material studied EM83124 leg. K & R Ehlers 1983 near Copala, Plant collected by Schatzl at type locality, and plant collected by Lau at Fortin de las Flores
Plant - flowering to 8cm high
Leaves - green, laxly upright and twisted.
Inflorescence - laxly polystichous with 3-5 flowers.
Floral bracts - 2.2-3.5cm long, lanceolate acuminate, 5-8mm wide, pale green, densely lepidote.
Sepals - 1.3-1.4cm long, weakly lepidote.
Petals - 2.9-3.5cm long, white.
Stamens - as long as the petal.
Tillandsia kolbii is distinguished from T. scaposa by
1. Plant mostly smaller.
2. Rosette made from fewer leaves which are greyer, twisted not erect.
3. Floral bracts pale green, densely scaled.
4. Sepals with few lepidotes
5. Petals mostly white instead of violet.
6. Stamens not overhanging the flower with the petals equally long
For a long time there has been opinion that T. kolbii is a form of T. ionantha v. scaposa. Close study over the last year makes me believe however that these plants have developed in a small ecological niche near Copala. In the immediate vicinity is found a very small form of T. matudae with T. kolbii and a progression between some of the characters. This makes me suggest that T. kolbii is a natural hybrid with the other parent T. matudae and has become established in between.
Unfortunately the climate in this area is very changeable and whereas the plants seem to prefer a damp climate it is very hot and dry. It would seem impossible for them to colonise. If I had permission in the future to collect these plants I feel they would have a greater chance of survival than in their natural habitat.
T. kolbii seems widely removed from T. ionantha v. scaposa because of its restricted ecological habitat and its variation in characteristics shows that it is an independent species. —SeeTill & Vitek 1985