Lindmania vinotincta B.Holst & Y.Vivas
Literature references:
Comments:
- - Lindmania is a genus of about 40 species that are entirely restricted to the upland and highland regions of the Guayana Shield (1000–2800 m elevation). They occur in open rocky areas or in savannas or tepui meadows; all are terrestrial. Only one, or possibly two species occur outside of Venezuela (L. piresii L.B. Sm., from Serra Araça in northern Brazil, and possibly one other undescribed species from western Guyana).
- Lindmania vinotincta was discovered in April 2005 by the senior author during an inventory of the Sierra de Lema in central-eastern Bolívar State, together with colleague Wilmer Díaz. A single, robust plant was spotted on a somewhat disturbed soil bank, and we postulated that it was a Lindmania due to spineless leaf margins (though some Lindmania are lightly armed) and the relatively broad, numerous leaves. The following year, the authors of this paper returned to the area to observe the plant, but other than having more leaves, there was no indication that it was near flowering. The rosette was still growing nicely. Finally, in March of 2007 flowering had initiated, though at that point in time, the inflorescence was decidedly immature. Sadly, we could not stay for what would likely be several more weeks to see the results. We speculated widely about the final aspect of the inflorescence, and guessed that it would have a lax, short panicle with white flowers, not unlike the more common and robust forms of L. and colleague Elio Sanoja were able to return to the population two weeks later, a 5-day round-trip, and were rewarded with the surprising and spectacular 2 m tall, wine-purple, rose-pink-flowered inflorescence. They returned again in 2008 to find remnants of the inflorescence and discovered several more young plants in the vicinity. —See J. Bromeliad Soc.
