In February 1999, Hiroyuki Takizawa with Pamela Koide, Wayne Schuster, Eloise Lau and Dan Kinnard found the same plant west of Tehuacan in the desert at 1800 m. Another location in Puebla is near Azumbilla, along the road from Morelo Canada - Azumbilla to Ciudad Serdan about 5 km after road-cross, 2150 m. (leg. Jurgen Lautner 1992 and Lautner 1994 M94/64). Klaus and Renate Ehlers also collected the plant at the same place on May 3,1993 (EM 930201).
The plant seems to be to be related to T bourgaei (Baker) but differs by the following characters:
Plants are often bigger, in a much narrower erect rosette, with offsets at the base and often growing in groups, while T bourgaei never offsets, not before flowering and not postfloral, and it never grows in groups (always solitary plants). Leaves greener, less lepidote, with longer filiform blades. Inflorescence often longer (to twice as long) slender, more lax, internodes of the spikes bigger, spikes often narrower, lacerate, floral bracts acuminate or with long filiform apice not only acute, also adaxiallepidote. Sepals nearly glabrous, not densely lepidote. Tillandsia bourgaei normally grows in moist to semi-arid habits, while this plant grows in an arid desert.
History: In 1990 when we visited Dr. Jurg Rutschmann in Basel we saw a wonderful photograph of this Tillandsia growing on a big cactus in the desert of Tehuacan. We were very interested to see this beautiful plant and as our friend Jurg gave us the exact locality, Klaus and I went in the Spring 1991 to the place where he discovered the plant. It was a very interesting location with many different plants, resembling a botanical Garden and we were happy to see many of the tillandsias in flower. I agreed with Jurg Rutschmann that it is a new plant and prepared the description.
But in 1993, Dr. Jurg Rutschmann sent to us an article from Vegetationsbilder, 14. Reihe, Heft 5/6, Heinrich Schenck, "Sierra de de Mixteca". Without doubt, a photo ofH. Schenck 29.8. 1908 on page 29 was our new plant (EM 911801) and it was labeled T strobilifera (E. Morren ex Baker). Tillandsia strobilifera (E. Morren) is a synonym of T bourgaei. It was described from Prof. Morren's drawing made from a plant from Mexico that flowered in cultivation in May 1882. The plant was received from M. Kienast, of Zurich. I then had doubts that our plant might be T strobilifera. Therefore I did not publish it.
In May 2000 Hiroyuki Takizawa sent a herbarium specimen of this plant to me. Then we all started a series of investigations. Harry Luther was kind enough to send a photocopy of the photo of the painting of T strobilifera. We all agreed that T strobilifera is very different from our new plant and after several heated discussions we, (Dr. Hiroyuki Takizawa, Harry Luther, Pamela Koide, Dr. Walter Till and some more bromeliad-friends) finally came to the conclusion that it was indeed an undescribed species.
In the dry valley of Tehuacan Acatepec to Caltepec, the plant grows on Stenocereus marginatus, Stenocactus weberi, Myrtillocactus geometrizans var. grandiareolatus, Opuntia streptacantha and Polaskia chichipe, together with Escontria chiotilla, Beaucarnea gracilis, Yucca periculosa, Ferocactus robustus, Ferocactus recurvus, Tillandsia makoyana and Tillandsia atroviridipetala. —SeeEhlers 2000cp. 50(5): 217-221
