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From Newsletter 78 - February 2015

Dear Bromeliad-friends,

On Sunday April 12 we shall once more be organising a Spring Meeting in the conservatory in the greenhouse complex of the Botanical Gardens, Harvardlaan 10 in Utrecht. We hope to see you all here again. The coffee will be ready from 10am and you can greet one another, catch up, arrange and admire plants you and others have brought, consult the available literature and so on.

At 11am we shall be holding a short house-keeping meeting. After this, the there will be a discussion of the plants people have brought and possibly also of some special plants from the Botanical Gardens' collection. And, as we've said before, don't be embarrassed to bring problem plants, a plant that won't bloom or one that won't grow. In short, get some advice from the experts present. We come together to learn, too!

Next, we want to organise a plant auction again. We shall try to get some special Bromeliad species for this. We would also like to ask you, where you can, to provide plants, cuttings and seedlings from your own collections. You will also be able to bid at the auction for any professional or society magazines that have been made available and possibly for other literature too.

Fig. 1 & 2 Tillandsia rudolfii, see Plant Portrait, photos E.J.Gouda

The agenda for the house-keeping meeting will start with any announcements and mail received. The next point is the visit to the Westermann Bromelien nursery at Uelsen in Germany which has now been arranged for Saturday June 20. The Westerman family would like to know how many guests they should expect. Those interested will be asked to notify the Secretary about the day. Check out the site www.bromelien-westermann.eu too. Organisation of the visit to the Holm Orchid nursery (for Tillandsias), planned for late summer or early autumn this year, will be initiated in the coming period, see www.orchideeen-holm.de. These points will be followed by the Treasurer's financial report (already approved by the audit committee) and further aspects of the BCG's finances, such as the subscription. Lastly will come the report on the Autumn Meeting of September 21 2014 followed by any other business.

Afternoon programme

After lunch, our member Art Vogel, former head of the greenhouses at the Hortus Botanicus (Botanical Gardens) in Leiden, will take us in the film room on a journey through Mexico entitled 'A botanical tour led by Jeff Chemnick where the emphasis will be on a number of Cycadales locations, including Ceratozamia, Zamia and Dioon species in widely differing habitats'. Art Vogel will explain the many interesting facets of the areas we shall see in the film.

We hope with this to offer our members an enjoyable Spring Meeting. So, until April 12!

Roel Tomassen: text
Eric Gouda: layout and plant portrait.

Plant Portrait

Tillandsia rudolfii

The plant shown (see fig. 1 & 2, plant was at the last plant discussion) was collected by Alexander Hirtz in Ecuador, Prov. Azuay, between Guayaquil and Riobamba, growing on a rock-face at 2800 meters. We all know the pictures of steep rock-faces full of great beaker-shaped Bromeliads. We got the plant from BG Heidelberg. The flowers do not open as well as those in the publication on Tillandsia rudolfii "E. Gross & Hase Die Bromelie 2003(3): 76 -78". On dissecting the flowers, there proved to be only few stamens present and that several resembled petals (petaloid staminodes), so that there appeared to be 6 or 7 petals. I have never encountered this before in Bromeliads, though I have seen 4 instead of 3 petals. This plant took more than six months to come into bloom (from the moment that the inflorescence showed).

Translation: MaryRose Hoare

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