Replies on: Casus Pro Diagnosi - Bromeliad Identification Page

19. Tillandsia carminea ‘Dennis’   (Send your reply, using the form)

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• Derek butcher (21 Jul 1999): This is a plant that was imported from Dennis Cathcart at Tropiflora in the USA by Keith Golinski at Bromagic in Queensland about 1990 as Tillandsia carminea. I eventually acquired an offset from Ken Woods of Sydney because he said that it had white flowers and I did not believe him! My offset flowered white too although when in bud it was a very pale blue. I took a flower to pieces and measured all the plant’s vital statistics. I even went to the trouble to translate Walter Till’s description of T. carminea in Pl. Syst. Evol. 138, 293 - 295 (1981) and compared my findings with his.
  Our plant only differed in a few aspects but they seemed significant enough for me to believe that it was not according to type. The problem here was that I had no collection data even from Dennis Cathcart but the information I got did suggest it was a species and had been collected in the wild.
  Our leaves were strongly carinate under the blade, the posterior sepals were connate for 9 mm not 2mm, and the petals were virtually white, not dark blue. I also found the filaments were plicate but this information was not in the original description.
  The plant’s growth habit suggests epilithic ( on rocks) and could easily have come from the Organ Mountains (The home of T. carminea) and thus been misidentified. It may even be found again in the wild with correct collection data so that a decision can be made as to its relationship or non-relationship with T. carminea. I have therefore decided to call our plant T. carminea ‘Dennis’ for the meantime to at least identify it.
• Eric Gouda (12-08-99): Interesting plant, but it has nothing to do with T.carminea to my opinion. This is a typical T.tenuifolia-T.araujei-T.aeranthos complex specimen.
  The T.carmineas that I have grown are very close to T.stricta and does change its habit toward a more T.stricta like habit and its flower characters are barely different from T.stricta.

Send your reply, using the form, thanks Eric Gouda