Orthophytum harleyi Leme & M.Machado
Literature references:
Comments:
- The first collection of this species seems to be the one listed below as paratype, made by the Kew botanists Raymond M. Harley and Nigel P Taylor in 1988. The second author found the species again while on a field excursion to study species of Cactaceae, near or at the place where it was originally collected by Harley & Taylor. The differences from O. saxicola were promptly noticed, specially the densely strobilate inflorescence. O. harleyi grows in between shrubs or as rupicolous on granitic rock outcrops in the western slopes of the Serra das Almas, a mountain range forming the southern end of the Chapada Diamantina. An unusual characteristic observed in specimens kept in cultivation was the time of anthesis: flowers opened in late afternoon, staying open through the night and closing in the next day. This characteristic has never been observed in the genus. —See J. Bromeliad Soc.
