Tillandsia teloloapanensis Ehlers & Lautner
Literature references:
Comments:
- Cultivation T. teloloapanensis is easy in culture. It can be kept outside in summer.
History. After the general meeting of the German Bromeliad Society in Linz in September 2005, we visited the local botanical garden under the competent leadership of Franz Fuchs, who has unfortunately retired in the meantime. Immediately, I noticed a branch in the greenhouse with a beautiful, spherical, starlike, white Tillandsia. I took photos and discussed with other bromeliad friends which species it could be. The plants reminded someone of Tillandsia mauryana, but were smaller and had narrower leaves. It could not be Tillandsia atroviridipetala either. The tag stated that it was a collection made by Stefan Schatzl, a former Chief Supervisor, which he made in 1978 on a trip through Mexico.
The more I studied the plants, the more I thought that I had already seen such plants somewhere. Finally, it occurred to me that in my collections I cultivate a Tillandsia, which looks exactly like them. This plant had only flowered once, the inflorescence was only
a small, narrow sword, which I discovered, however, after it had flowered. I thought that some unfavourable circumstance had caused such an odd and small inflorescence. It hung together with other forms of Tillandsia atroviridipetala, the tag saying that it came from Guerrero, near Ciudad Altamirano, an area where many plants from this complex are growing. And so I treated it as an inflorescence "gone wrong" and left it at that. But now it dawned on me. I also had the same plant at home, however only one single specimen. Mr. Fuchs told me that the beautiful plants had hung in the garden since 1978 without having seen a single flower.
As he noticed, how interesting and important this Tillandsia was to me, he gave me
a specimen and promised to find out the exact place of discovery. I was happy with my treasure. I packed the plant carefully in a nest of tissue paper in a box and deposited it in my large washing basket, in which plants had traveled to Linz for the auction, and which was now empty. As I prepared to return to my room after the plant auction and the comfortable get-together in the evening I found that, although the empty basket and the beautiful wrapping tissue were still there, but my precious Tillandsia was missing. Very dismayed, I immediately asked all participants, who were still in the area, whether anyone had packed my plant "by mistake". Next morning at breakfast, I again reported, full of indignation that my important Tillandsia had been lost. Nobody had seen it. So, after the general meeting I angrily and sorrowfully drove home. But a very attentive married couple had an idea as to who could have the plant, and they were able to find it. Late in the evening the telephone rang and I received the joyful message that the Tillandsia had been found. I was, of course, overjoyed when I received a small parcel with my treasure two days later.
When I compared the Linz Tillandsia with my plant from Ciudad Altamirano, I was certain that the two were identical. I was happy that I now had two specimens of this precious species. I wanted to have an inflorescence as soon as possible, because of the publication of this Special Edition. I wanted to introduce this new species, and for that, it was absolutely necessary to have seen it flowering.
What was the reason that the beautiful and long since adult plants had lived in the garden at Linz for 27 years, without ever having flowered? I can only think that they had simply been too well treated, always had a stable climate with small temperature differences, and always uniform moisture. Therefore, I decided to alter this dramatically. I had my two plants hanging outdoors until mid November, being careful if night frost was forecast. Then, they were brought back to the warm greenhouse for a short time. Next morning, they were hung out in the garden again. When the winter really set in, more stress was in store for these two plants. They were placed in a large plastic bag for four days, together with a carefully selected, marvellously fragrant apple. My hope was that the escaping ethylene gas would trigger flowering, because bromeliad friends had told me that this was already successful. Afterwards the plants got a light and airy place near the ventilator. But until the beginning of February no sign of flowers could be seen despite all that loving care.
In February, I then went with my friends Jurgen Lautner, Manfred Kretz, Gunther Noller and Wolfgang Schindhelm to Mexico. Already in the planning of the itinerary I had requested that we go to Guerrero, where we could drive to the area around Teloloapan, and I was very glad that my wish was granted. On the ninth day of our trip, February 12, 2006, at last we came to the Sierra Madre near Teloloapan. Now the difficulty lay in finding the actual rock face. The big question was, whether the location at all still existed after 27 years. Already, we had experienced great disappointment in Mexico, because even after a few years many places, where special plants had grown, were unrecognizable. Sometimes, a new road had been built, or all trees, on which epiphytic plants had grown in masses, had been cleared! The microclimate has often also changed quite dramatically, and it has become much drier. Unfortunately we had to experience this again and again, particularly in Oaxaca and Chiapas. For example, in the area around Copala in Oaxaca, at the type location of Tillandsia kolbii Till & Schatzl, the orchid and tillandsia vegetation changed completely. Most orchids have disappeared, but also many tillandsias, such as Tillandsia magnusiana Wittmack and T. matudae Smith could no longer sustain themselves in the much drier climate and have vanished. Especially the vegetation in many areas in Chiapas had changed for the worse where the great splendid forests had been cleared to a large degree.
But we were lucky in finding the location, and there were some plants of the sought after Tillandsia as well, high in the rock. Manfred Kretz, our expert climber, also managed to collect some plants after a dangerous ascent, but unfortunately there was no flowering specimen among them. Therefore I was overjoyed when, after a long wait, Gunther Noller, who had climbed another part of the rocks, collected two plants that were starting to flower.
I was so happy that I had finally received the pretty, small, silvery plant with already developed inflorescence. I took a whole roll of film as well as innumerable digital photos. After the newly found Tillandsia penascoensis, which had already been a small sensation for us all, I had not reckoned with finding a new, not yet described species from the complex of the small, green flowering Tillandsia! Now, we had to get the small plants home undamaged.
In the evening, I procured two large plastic Coca-Cola bottles and cut off the upper parts. The lower part was stuffed with Tillandsia usneoides, and then each Tillandsia had its own, small mini-greenhouse, the upper part having been closed, using Manfred's sticky tape, and provided with the necessary air holes. They arrived unscathed in Stuttgart and after three weeks small, green flowers appeared, so the plant can now be described.
Today, as I write this on April 22, 2006, I was in the greenhouse and could hardly believe my eyes: the Linz plant had an inflorescence, already 2 cm above the leaf-rosette! Therefore, the treatment must have been of some use. Of course I immediately informed Franz Fuchs of the joyful news. He was, of course, happy and wrote me that he is also of the opinion that the stable climate in the Botanical Garden had probably prevented the flowering of the tillandsias. After the inflorescence was checked in accordance with the rules and was photographed, it is now in the herbarium at the Vienna University as a paratype.
So far known only from the Federal State of Guerrero. At the type location in Guerrero, Teloloapan, between Cd. Altamirano and Iguala, the species had already been discovered in 1978 by Stefan Schatzl, Chief Supervisor of the Linz Botanical Garden. In February 2006, we were able to collect further specimens in the Sierra de Teloloapan. Furthermore, there is a specimen which was collected in March 1991 by Klaus and Renate Ehlers near Ciudad Altamirano: EM911308 (WU). Only these three collections are known so far. —See Ehlers 2009a p. 101-112
