Notes
In 1999, Eberhard Bludau, Koln, and Wolfgang Schindhelm, Berlin, collected the plant "spec. Minas Gerais" in Minas Gerais west of Diamantina near Conselheiro Mata, Brazil. Similar plants were imported in 1990 from Minas Gerais by Paul Isley III (California) and these were examined by Renate Ehlers.
In 1991 and 1992 plants of the "spec. Minas Gerais" flowered in collection Ehlers in Stuttgart and did not key out. They showed characters similar to Tillandsia recurvifolia and T. pohliana as well and it was evident that it was an undescribed species. But it was difficult to come to an agreement on which species the plant is most closely related to. Harry Luther sent copies of the type of T. hilaireana Baker, which he thinks is different from T. pohliana as it seemed similar with the species from Minas Gerais. Walter Till compared T. minasgereisensis with the type of T. hilaireana in Paris but found that this plant shows quite a number of different characters: dense inflorescence, floral bracts narrower, glabrous, strongly nerved and only at extreme apex lepidote, the sepals narower, acute, glabrous, the posterior ones 5,5 mm connate. He also agreed with Luther that T. hilaireana is different from T. pohliana and could be an own species, but unfortunately there is no living material.
Investigating the plant from Minas Gerais over the years both authors now think the plant is different enough to be described as a species. Walter Till found the plant on flat rocks. He mentioned that Tillandsia pohliana and T. recurvifolia always grow epiphytically whilst T. minasgeraisensis differs ecologically as a saxicole. —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
In 1999, Eberhard Bludau, Köln, and Wolfgang Schindhelm, Berlin, collected the plant “spec. Minas Gerais” in Minas Gerais west of Diamantina near Conselheiro Mata, Brazil. Similar plants were imported in 1990 from Minas Gerais by Paul Isley III (California) and these were examined by Renate Ehlers.
In 1991 and 1992 plants of the “spec. Minas Gerais” flowered in collection Ehlers in Stuttgart and did not key out. They showed characters similar to Tillandsia recurvifolia and T. pohliana as well and it was evident that it was an undescribed species. But it was difficult to come to an agreement on which species the plant is most closely related to. Harry Luther sent copies of the type of T. hilaireana Baker, which he thinks is differnt from T. pohliana as it seemed similar with the species from Minas Gerais. Walter Till compared T. minasgereisensis with the type of T. hilaireana in Paris but found that this plant shows quite a number of different characters: dense inflorescence, floral bracts narrower, glabrous, strongly nerved and only at extreme apex lepidote, the sepals narower, acute, glabrous, the posterior ones 5,5 mm connate. He also agreed with Luther that T. hilaireana is different from T. pohliana and could be an own species, but unfortunately there is no living material.
Investigating the plant from Minas Gerais over the years both authors now think the plant is different enough to be described as a species. Walter Till found the plant on flat rocks. He mentioned that Tillandsia pohliana and T. recurvifolia always grow epiphytically whilst T. minasgeraisensis differs ecologically as a saxicole. —SeeEhlers & Till 2008
