XXXXIX no 5 - Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc€¦ · volume xxxix - no. 5 - september/october...

VOLUME XXXIX - No. 5 - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005

Bromeliaceae

2Bromeliaceae SEPT/OCT 2005

OFFICERSPRESIDENTVICE PRESIDENTPAST PRESIDENTSECRETARYTREASURER

COMMITTEE

AUDITORCOMBINED SHOW COMMITTEE

CONVENTION COMMITTEE

BROMELIACEAE EDITORSALES AREA STEWARDFIELD DAY CO-ORDINATORLIBRARIANSHOW ORGANISERSSUPPER STEWARDSPLANT SALES

COMPETITION STEWARDSHOSTSHALL STEWARDBSQ WEBMASTERSOCIETY PHOTOGRAPHERSLIFE MEMBERS

Bob Reilly (07) 3870 8029VacantWayne Lyons (07) 3202 8454Karen Murday (07) 3359 2373Glenn Bernoth (074) 6613 634David Brown, Beryl and Jim BatchelorJoe Green, Len and OliveTrevor,Barry Kable,Doug Upton, Peter ParozAnna Harris Accounting Services Bob Cross, M O’Dea N. Ryan, Bob ReillyGreg Cuffe (Convenor)Bob Cross(Display), Wayne Lyons,Bob Reilly, Olive TrevorRoss StenhouseNorma Poole & Phyllis JamesNancy KickbuschEvelyn ReesBob CrossNev Ryan, Barry GennNancy Kickbusch (Convenor)N. Poole (Steward)Arnold James, Ruth HigginsJoy Upton, David BrownJoy Upton & David BrownKeith Dawson (07) 3285 6710Doug Upton, Viv DuncanGrace Goode OAM, Bert WilsonPeter Paroz, Patricia O’DeaMichael O’Dea

The Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc.

P. O. Box 565, Fortitude ValleyQueensland, Australia 4006,Home Page www.bsq.org.au

Front Cover: Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ Photo by Ross StenhouseRear Cover : Neoregelia abendrothii x pauciflora Photo by Ross Stenhouse


The Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc. gives permission to all Bromeliad Societies to reprintarticles in their journals provided proper acknowledgement is given to the original author and the Brome-liaceae, and no contrary direction is published in Bromeliaceae. This permission does not apply to anyother person or organisation without the prior permission of the author.

Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual contributor and may not neces-sarily reflect the opinions of the Bromeliad Society of Queensland or of the Editor

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the information in their articles.

Contents

SOCIETY DIARY ............................................................................................ 4NOTES FOR NEW GROWERS .................................................................................................. 5SEED RAISING ............................................................................................................................ 5CHANGED PLANT SALES ARRANGEMENTS AT MONTHLY MEETINGS ......................... 6PHOTOGRAPHERS CODE ......................................................................................................... 6THE EDITOR’S DESK ................................................................................................................. 7PLANT LABELS ........................................................................................................................... 8LOOKING AFTER MOTHER ...................................................................................................... 8VRIESEA ‘ELFI’ AND ‘ELFI NATASCHA’ ............................................................................. 15FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY AND BROMELIADS ...................................................................... 16A LITTLE EDUCATION ............................................................................................................ 17AECHMEA ‘FOREST FIRE’— ALLIANCE. ............................................................................ 19LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ..................................................................................................... 222005 COMBINED SHOW JUDGES REPORT ......................................................................... 252005 COMBINED SHOW REPORT .......................................................................................... 252005 COMBINED SHOW: COMPETITION RESULTS .......................................................... 28BOOKS FOR SALE ................................................................................................................... 30FIVE YEARS ON ....................................................................................................................... 31GROWING GREY-LEAFED TILLANDSIAS IN POTS ........................................................... 32ALBINO BROMELIADS ........................................................................................................... 34A LITTLE EDUCATION ON THE GENUS CANISTROPSIS ................................................. 34COMMON SENSE, CURIOSITY & SUPERSTARS, FLAMINGOS AND RAINBOWS. ...... 36PLANT OF THE MONTH PROGRAMME - 2005 .................................................................... 37A BEGINNERS TALE ................................................................................................................ 38UNSUNG HEROES ..................................................................................................................... 40DARKEST DELIGHTS............................................................................................................... 42END OF THE COMBINED SHOW ........................................................................................... 45DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT LIKE TO GET INVOLVED? ................................................. 46SCHEDULE OF 2005/06 MONTHLY MEETING TALKS ........................................................ 46BROMELIADS XIII CONFERENCE UPDATE ........................................................................ 47BROMELIAD BONANZA ......................................................................................................... 47CALENDAR OF EVENTS: JULY – SEPTEMBER 2005 .......................................................... 48


Society DiaryNEWS REPORTS EVENTS

GENERAL MEETINGS are held on the third Thursday of each month exceptfor December, at the Uniting Hall, 52 Merthyr Road, NewFarm, Brisbane, commenc-ing 8 pm.. Classes for beginners commence at 7.30 pm.

Raffle Results - Meeting 21st July 2005Lucky Door - Beryl Batchelor1st Draw - Marge Heinemann2nd Draw - Bob Mann3rd Draw - Barbara Pugh4th Draw - Voila Hamilton5th Draw - Barbara Murray6th Draw - Gary Frahm7th Draw - Jim Batchelor8th Draw - Bruce Hansen9th Draw - John Olsen10th Draw- Anne McBurnie

Competition ResultsJuly Meeting - Mini-showAdvancedClass 3First J. Higgins Neoregelia ‘Red Waif’Second J. Higgins Neoregelia ‘Little Faith’IntermediateClass 1First G. & N. Aizlewood Billbergia ‘Super Grace’Second G. & N. Aizelwood Billbergia ‘Glory Be’Class 4First G. & N. Aizlewood Canmea ‘Majo’Second B. & A. Kable Guzmania sanguineaNoviceClass 3First L. Grubb Neoregelia ‘Whim’Class 4First L. Grubb Guzmania HybridSecond P. Butler Tillandsia stricta

Raffle Results - Meeting 21st July 2005Lucky Dooor Prize - Ingvar1st Draw - Valerie Portley2nd Draw - Val Gould3rd Draw - Bruce Hansen4th Draw - Phillip Beard5th Draw - Janet Darrington6th Draw - Phil Sears7th Draw - Anne McBurnie8th Draw - Wendy Hansen9th Draw - David Brown10th Draw - Frank Coleman11th Draw - Phillip Beard12th Draw - Neil Portley


Continued on page 13

An important part of raising bromeli-ads from seed is access to fresh, good qual-ity seed. A quick look at the sex life of bro-meliads is in order! See page 9 in the 2005May/June issue for a description of theanatomy of a bromeliad flower.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen fromthe anther to the stigma. In most bromeli-ads, the stigma remains receptive for onlya short time after the flower opens -possi-bly only an hour or so-. While the stigma isreceptive, it has a ‘moist’ appearance. If thefine hair structure of the stigma looks driedout or discoloured, it is unlikely that polli-nation will result in seed production.

Spread the pollen over the surface ofthe stigma as completely and evenly aspossible. Successful pollination may re-quire some early morning visits to the plantswhen the flowers have just opened; or atorchlight sortie to catch the night flower-ing species.

Pollen can be stored at ambient condi-tions for a short time - a few days- Wrap ina labelled sachet of uncoated paper.

In the BSI Journal 1991 #1, Don Bea-dle wrote about the storage of pollen. (Donis a noted grower and hybridiser of Billber-gias). Pollen stored in labelled zip plasticbags in the cool section of the fridge wentmouldy in a few days. When stored frozenin zip bags, good fertilisation was achievedafter 90 days, but he felt the acceptance ratedropped off after 60 days. Some crosseswere successful with pollen frozen for 18months.

After pollination, a germ tube growsdown the style to fertilise the ovules andinitiate seed development. If seed is not re-

quired for propagation, remove the flowerspike when flowering has finished. Seeddevelopment requires a substantial use ofthe plants resources- energy and nutrients-at the expense of offsets.

Some plants are self-pollinating,some self fertile - these plants will set seedwith pollen from the same plant. A numberof bromeliad species will only set seed withpollen from a different clone. Hybrids areobtained by using pollen from a differentspecies or hybrid. When producing hybridseed, it is important to avoid contaminat-ing the stigma with pollen from the seedparent. Removal of the anthers prior tomaturity of the stigma is strongly recom-mended.

Intergeneric hybrids are produced bycrossing plants from different genera. Todate, intergenerics have only been producedwithin a sub-family (ie Bromelioideae, Pit-cairnioideae or Tillandsioideae ).

Keep accurate notes of your seed pro-duction (date, seed and pollen parent), es-pecially hybrid seed and use only plantswhose identity is well established.

Bromeliad seed take several months tomature. Bromelioideae seed develop in apulpy berry which changes colour on ma-turity; generally darkening. If the berriesdetach with light finger pressure, this is areliable indication that the seed is mature.Squeeze the seed out of the berry and washfree of the pulp.

Pitcairnioideae and Tillandsioideae seeddevelop in a three celled structure called acapsule. When mature, the capsules changecolour (generally becoming lighter) andgradually dry out from the base. When thetips dry, the capsule springs open ejectingthe seed for wind dispersal. Tillandsioideaeseed have a coma of fine hairs which act as

Notes for New GrowersSEED RAISING


Photographers CodeRS : Ross StenhouseDU : Doug UptonRSm: Rob SmytheBB : Beryl BatchelorSU: Susan ReillyKG: Keith GreenKT: Kerry Tate

Attendance at monthly Society meet-ings is currently averaging about 100 peo-ple. While it is great to see so many com-ing along, the number of people involveddoes create some management challenges.

One issue is plant sales. Currently, theyonly occur during the 30 minutes’ “break”,which occurs after the main lecture for theevening. In recent meetings, the numberof people trying to buy plants in the lim-ited amount of time available during thebreak, has caused crowding and conges-tion.

To help deal with this problem, plantsales will, for the rest of 2005, occur overtwo intervals. They are: 7pm to 8pm (whenthe main meeting starts) and during thebreak as is currently the case.

Please help our sales stewards by buy-ing your plants well before the meetingstarts (or resumes in the case of plants pur-chased during the break).

The Management Committee will re-view the outcomes of this trial in Novem-ber 2005, to see if the revised sales’ timeswill be made permanent in 2006.

CHANGED PLANT SALESARRANGEMENTS AT

MONTHLY MEETINGS(compiled by Bob Reilly)

Vale: John Buchanan(by Phil Hobbs)

Everyone who has enjoyedbrowsing around PinegroveBromelian Nursery will be saddenedto hear that John Buchanen passedaway on the 22/6/2005 at the JohnFlynn Hospital at Tugan.

John and June purchased a smallnursery at Wardell in 1992 and moveda large collection of Bromeliads upfrom Sydney. Their collection startedwith a box of prickly looking plantsat an auction at Mt. Prichard. Theypaid $5.00 for them. That was the be-ginning of a fascination with theplants that was to give pleasure andinspiration to all who visited.

My heart goes out to June and herfamily at their loss.

24 SeptemberPlant show and sale presented by theGold Coast Succulent and Bromeliad

Society (Inc).Timings: 10am-3pm.

Venue: Southport Community Centre,Lawson Street, Southport.

Admission: $2.More information: phone Pat Ross

(President) on (07) 5576 1186.


The Editor’s Desk

BROMELIACEAEEditor Ross StenhousePhotography see codeMail Out R & B PughContributors Bob Reilly

Peter ParozOlive TrevorRob SmythePhil HobbsAndrew WoodsLynn HudsonGeoff Lawn

Bromeliaceae Copy DeadlinesNovember/December..................................October 5th, 2005Jan/Feb...................................................December 5th, 2005Mar/Apr....................................................February 5th, 2006

Please forward all copy and photographs to:The Editor, 15 Timbarra Crescent, Jindalee, Qld 4075

Phone: 07 3376 5558 Email: [email protected] copy RTF or MSWord 7.0 or earlier - Times New Roman

Each edition of the journal that I do is agreat but enjoyable challenge. I am verydependent on the contributors for contentand each edition they come through withinteresting content. You may notice that inthis edition I have tried my hand at writingabout bromeliads, however with my lim-ited knowledge on the subject, I tend tostick to less technical subjects.

As editor I am looking to develop a cer-tain style for the journal, one that is a com-bination of technical articles combined withgeneral interest articles and reports on rou-tine society business. I am sure that in thatmix there is room for a few more contribu-tors. I see a big role for the journal is edu-cation and as the saying goes, a picture tellsa thousand words.

Photographs of species and hybrids ofbromeliads help members to identify theirplants, so as a consequence you will see anincreasing focus on photographic contentin the journal. If you have a small interest-ing plant in a pot that you feel should gracethe pages of the journal, then I invite youto drop it over to my place for a few weeksso that I can photograph it. You may be akeen photographer and have a particulargood shot of a plant, then send in a print ordigital image. I prefer digital images to be

scanned at least 300 dpi and preferablyTIFF or RAW. GIF’s are acceptable, but canresult in a loss of quality. The best digitalimage format is a big subject in its own rightand one that I am studying at the moment.

Publishing for the society is a combi-nation of two facets, one being this jour-nal, the other being the web site. This jour-nal by the nature of being a bi-monthlyjournal is not capable of disseminating latebreaking news quickly, that is the role ofthe web site. If you have access to the In-ternet then you should be checking the as-sociations web site on a regular basis. I re-alise it has been a bit static in recent times,but the management committee is address-ing that issue.


In my opinion a correct name on a la-bel is desirable, but a label changed onsketchy evidence is just as confusing as alabel that may be incorrect. One of the prob-lems that the Bromeliad growers have tocope with is that the Bromeliad Society In-ternational complies with the internationalrules for naming plants. To explain in as fewwords as possible I list the following:

a) The Bromeliad Society Internationalregistrar believes that in order to complywith the international rules it is not valid toacknowledge GREX names.

b) Most Bromeliad Hybridists DO useGREX names. [ E.g. In human beings ofwestern culture the GREX in plant namesequates to our Surname (e.g. Smith), forthe novice grower the cultivar name equatesto our Christian name (e.g. Derek). A GREXname can simply be the recipe name (e.g.Neo Carolinae X Neo Concentrica).] Dueto the Bromeliad Society International reg-istry recording only the cultivar name wedo not have a central bank (or registry) ofBromeliad Hybrids.

c) The rules of International naming ofplants do not prohibit the use of GREXnames.

d) Many names that have beengrandfathered into the cultivar registry wereoriginally names of GREX origin. A goodexample of this is possibly a Grace Goodehybrid, made many years ago (1975), if welook at the old cultivar and hybrid registercompiled by Don Beadle. If we look underNeoregelia Charm (N. Marmorata XChlorostica) we see listed other cultivars,Beezlebub, etc, etc.

So in the past it was acceptable to markyour labels:

Plant Labelsby Andrew Woods

Today it is suggested your labels aremarked:

My suggestion is your labels aremarked: (see figure on opposite page)

(This gives you the plant’s history at aglance)

If you are unsure about changing labelssimply mark the back of the label with newname and a question mark (?) until suchtime as you feel the new name is correct.

Reprinted, with permission of the Bro-meliad Society of New Zealand, from Bro-meliad, June 2005, v.45(6), pp16-18.

I have noticed that after a neoregeliamother plant has produced two or threepups, it can be relegated to the bottombench or put outside. Perhaps some grow-ers think the pups are more important andneed looking after while the mother plantcan be retired and ignored. But the motheris capable of producing more pups.

All bromeliads have a very strong de-sire to reproduce. They do so by two meth-ods.

The first is by seed, or sexual repro-duction. Whether a species or a hybrid,when the time is right, the flower head willtry to achieve pollination. With neoregelias,the flower will rise sometimes above thewater in the centre cup, and in its naturalhabitat of South America, it might be polli-

Looking After Motherby Gerry Stansfield


nated by perhaps a hummingbird. We donot have humming- birds but other birdsare attracted to flowers for their nectar andbees will seek pollen. It has also been ob-served in the USA that at the point of stigmaacceptance, it will move or bend to touchthe pollen stamens. Climate is thought tobe the reason why some neoregelias willself pollinate at certain times of the year.

Very little in-depth research has beendone, but we do know that nature providesbromeliads with the ability to reproducebefore they eventually die.

The second method of reproductionis by pupping or asexual vegetativepropagation.

A new pup is formed where the leaf isattached to the stem of the plant. The leafactually protects the new pup as it grows.The pup starts out as a dormant node atthe base of each leaf sheath, and each leafof the bromeliad plant has one. If you havethirty leaves on your plant you could, theo-retically, have thirty pups. This might notalways happen because the plant decideswhich node is going to be the next pup, andit might not be the next one up the stem.

Nidulariums are notoriously fickle for send-ing up pups from all over the stem, evenup to the floral bracts at the top.

Inducing a bromeliad plant to send upmore pups is possible, and we will discussthis later, but first let us discuss the methodof removing a pup. How this is done is veryimportant, because it is possible to dam-age both the pup and the dormant nodesnear it. The leaf should be cut off about50mm out from the base, and then shouldbe cut down the centre towards the stemjust under the new pup. Each side of theleaf can now be pulled away, one side at atime. You might think you can just pull theleaf off but you could damage the dormantnode next to it, and that means a lost pup.Another method that has been tried in theUSA, with success, is to remove the lowerleaves by cutting as described above, andthen make up a paste with a hormone root-ing power and brush it on to the area whereyou can see a node. I have not tried thismethod.

Removing a pup can be just as crucialand whether using a knife, small saw or apair of secateurs, take care to inflict the least


damage possible to the stem if you wish toencourage the mother plant to continuepupping.

Giving ‘Mother’ Some HelpThe removed pups should be dusted

with Captan / Flowers of Sulphur or someother such fungicide and then allowed todry off for about a week before they areplaced in your favourite rooting mixture.Make sure they have been given a drink ofwater.

Now, what do we do with mother? Thepups are young and should be strong, andcan look after themselves, but the motheris capable of producing more pups becauseit has the leaves on its stem to do so. Wecan and should try to help her do just that.

There are a number of tried and truemethods for assisting asexual propagation.First, the plant should be knocked out ofits pot and the old roots trimmed. It willnot make a new root system, but its exist-ing roots will continue to feed the plant.Carefully remove some of the lower leavesand then repot the plant a little deeper upthe stem. We don’t know where the nextpup will come from but potting the plant alittle deeper will allow the lower dormantnodes to sprout, should the mother plantdecide to produce more pups. The re-pot-ted plant should now be given pride of placeand loving attention by watering, feedingand watching. I am sure you will be re-warded when you see many subsequentpups appearing. Remember, the stem of theplant will continue to send up pups as longas there are dormant nodes on it.

In photo (1) page 12, We can see a Ne-oregelia ‘Royal Burgundy’ that has pro-duced thirteen pups and if you take a goodlook at the photo, you can see it has an-other five - two attached to the base of thestem and three coming from below the pot-

ting mixture. The moist potting mix is suf-ficient to initiate growth of the dormantbuds. This is similar to air layering whendamp sphagnum moss is held in by a plas-tic wrap to encourage the branch to sendout roots which can be cut off and potted.

In photo (2) page 12, we see Neorege-lia ‘Dr Oeser’ variegata. This is such alovely plant that it is worth trying to get asmany pups as possible. This plant has sofar produced ten pups plus the two on theplant which can be seen coming from thebase of the plant below the potting mix.These will be taken off and the plant re-potted deeper in the pot. You can also wrapsphagnum moss around the stem of theplant, but it must be kept moist at all timesbecause it dries out very quickly.

If your neoregelia or nidularium hasproduced a long stem with no leaves, usu-ally because it has not flowered, cut off thestem about halfway. Both pieces should bedusted in Captan or Flowers of Sulphur andleft to dry off for a few days. The top halfshould then be placed in a jar of water andit will eventually produce a root systemwhile the lower half left in the soil (or bet-ter still re-potted in fresh potting mix aftercutting some of the old root system awayand trimming up the plant), will sprout newpups. I don’t know how long this takesbecause I have not used this method.

The Screwdriver CureFinally, we have the screwdriver

method which is really only carried out ifyou think your plant is about to quill andyou cannot fix it or if your variegated planthas turned out to be an albino (all the newleaves are white or cream with no visualgreen) which can happen to many favour-ite plants, especially the albo-marginatedones. You must act to produce a good plantfrom the lower leaves that have some green


or red pigment in them.First, remove the water from the cen-

tral cup and using a long and narrow screw-driver, push it down into the cup until youfeel the bottom. This is the Apical Tip ofthe growing plant and just below it is themeristematic tissue of the plant, and it isthis you must destroy. Push the screwdriverinto this tissue and twist it around andaround.

The screwdriver must go into the tissuefor about 15mm to 20mm to destroy themeristematic tissue to ensure there is nochance that the plant will start growingagain from the centre cup.

The centre cup should now be treatedwith a fungicide such as Yates ‘Bravo’ ,washed out with fresh water twice a weekand treated again. The bromeliad is now inserious trouble; it cannot continue to growand because reproduction is its main aim,it will start pupping. The number of pupsthat you can get will depend on the type ofbromeliad and its size. Photo (3) page 12,shows a Vriesea fosteriana (rubra). Thisplant started quilling when Margaret and Iwere away and so I was unable to save theplant. However it was given the screwdrivertreatment and subsequently produced 25pups from the base. The interesting thingis that some of the first pups were alsoquilled, but they sent up new pups whichwere OK.

I think you will agree with me that bro-meliads are extremely resilient at reproduc-ing and just need a little help from us fromtime to time. •

amoena: Beautiful; charming; pleasingVariegration: The condition of a leaf whencertain sections are reduced or totally de-void of green pigments with the result thatthe leaf has pale stripes, blotches or bands.


(2) Neoregelia ‘Royal Burgundy’(1) Neoregelia ‘Dr Oeser’ variegata

(3) Vriesea fosteriana (rubra) Neoregelia ‘Aurora’ RS


Continued from page 5

a parachute. Pitcairnioideae seed have‘wings’ in various shapes to aid wind dis-persion.

Seed capsules may open slightly at thebase before the final ejection of the seed.At this time, the capsules are susceptibleto moisture penetration from watering orrain; with possible ‘fermentation’ or mouldgrowth. Seed with a sweet smell or thecoma matted - not fluffed out - is likely tohave been so affected. This seed is unlikelyto result in good germination. For valuableseed, the best option is to plant/sow theseed and wash several times with a lightspray of water.

Avoid handling seed with ‘sweaty’ fin-gers as the perspiration may aid mould de-velopment. Wash your hands; then dustlightly with talcum powder.

Bromeliad seed are best ‘planted’fresh. For storage, the seeds should bekept in small paper labelled envelopes,never plastic sachets.

All bromeliad seed needs light to initi-ate germination and is planted (sown) ontop of the growing medium; and well la-belled. Bromelioideae and pitcairnioideaeseed are planted on the surface of a finepotting mixture; a sieved version of themixture used for adult plants is suitable.Keep the mixture moist but not sodden. Forlarge scale operations, periodic misting isappropriate. For the odd lot of seed, thecontainer can be placed in a plastic bag toconserve moisture. In both instances, theseed is exposed to sunlight.

Tillandsioideae seed from plants grownin a potting mixture are sown as above.Seed from epiphytic tillandsioideae -espe-cially the extreme epiphytes- are best sownon an inert substrate which allows good airmovement around the germinating seeds.

Coconut fibre from basket liners or oldmattress padding is suitable. A useful pre-caution is to pour boiling water over the fi-bre to discourage any mould spores. Thefibre pad should be at least 10 mm thickand will probably need a backing of woodor foam plastic for support.

I have had good success using a localversion of ‘the bundle of sticks’. This wasdeveloped by Dr.Oeser, a noted Germanbromelian of the 1960’s using thuya twigs;and successfully introduced locally by NezMisso, the first President of the Society. Myversion uses melaleuca twigs, mainly be-cause I have a suitable tree on site. Thebundle is built up around a central stick 12-15 mm in diameter for support; with therest of the bundle made up of fine twigs <2 mm. The bundle is tied very tightly withwire (iron, not copper); the bundle shouldbe at least 70 mm in diameter when com-pressed.

In either case, the seed is spread asevenly as possible over the fibre or twigsand lightly sprayed with water. This causesthe fine hairs of the coma to cling to anysurface roughness. The seed are sprayedregularly but allowed to dry out betweenwatering. Be alert for any low humiditywinds especially the hot north-westerlies(S-E Qld) when the spray frequency willneed to be increased.

For all seed, some sign of germinationshould be apparent in 2-4 weeks with thedevelopment of a small green spot. This isthe first seed leaf and is followed by a smallroot, more tiny leaves and more roots.

The developing seed are sprayed withthe weak fertilizer solution that I use for theadult plants from a very early stage. It’s hardto prove that this is a major benefit but itdoes not cause any problems.



Vriesea Elfin DB

Vriesea Elfin DB

Vr Natascha KG

Vr Natascha KTVr ‘Elfi variegata’


Vriesea ‘Elfi’ and ‘ElfiNatascha’

by Derek Butcher, Cultivar Registrar

Oh! What a tangled web can be wovenwhen little is written about a cultivar whenit is released. This is just one example.While this may be a ‘Cold Case’ there arestill plants being grown around the worldthat are in this tangle.

In the International Checklist of Brome-liad hybrids 1979 we find a reference to aVriesea ‘Elfi’and that it came into existencein 1970. No parentage was known.

In 1984 in Brian Smith’s Manuscript ofBromeliad hybrids and Cultivars we readthat the parents of ‘Elfi’ are (‘ViminalisRex’ x gigantea) gleaned from some nurs-eryman’s catalogue. The use of the name‘Viminalis Rex’ suggests an origin in Eu-rope. It is interesting to note that this namewas coined by the Belgians nearly one hun-dred years ago to cover all Vriesea hybridsat that time because their pedigrees weresuch a mess. This would be the first re-corded use of a Cultivar Group! It was nota Cultivar name but is treated this way thesedays and I personally can see no differencebetween it and a branched ‘Poelmanii’.Both quoted parents have branched inflo-rescences.

In 1991 ‘A Preliminary Listing of allknown cultivar and grex names for the Bro-meliaceae’ repeated this parentage.

In J. Brom. Soc 45(3): 106. 1995 GSamyn from Belgium again repeated thisparentage.

In J. Brom . Soc.47(3): 121. 1997 G.Samyn and E Thomas showed ‘Elfi’ as a‘variegated’ chimaeric shoot from‘Natascha’whose parents were(‘Poelmanii’ x fenestralis) Note that

fenestralis has a simple inflorescence and‘Poelmanii’ would probably have had asimple spike at the time it was used as aparent. These problems of changing iden-tity but not name is partly explained in http://fcbs.org under ‘Uncle Derek says’ underVriesea ‘Van Ackeri’.

In 1998 the Bromeliad Cultivar Regis-ter shows this new parentage, pointing outthe previous error in parentage without re-alising it was referring to a different plant!

In 2004 we flowered a plant we had gotfrom Ken Woods of Sydney called(‘Viminalis Rex’ x gigantea). It was timefor action! These days a cultivar cannot beidentified by formula. Ken had not donethe hybrid and the answer lay in Queens-land.- we thought!

Olive Trevor was able to give me someclues. It appears that the plant had beenimported into Queensland or Northern NewSouth Wales in the ?1980’s under formulafrom the USA. Somehow, at least one ofthese was called Vriesea ‘Gigant’ but itbears no relationship to Richter’s ‘Gigant’whose parents are (‘Poelmanii’ x‘Versaillensis’). We have a photo on file of‘Gigant’ from Gilbert Samyn of the BelgianResearch Institute showing a single spike.Perhaps it was a typical Aussie abbrevia-tion of the pollen parent V. gigantea - no-body knows - but we do know there areplants circulating in Australia under‘Gigant’ AND the formula (‘Viminalis Rex’x gigantea ). Perhaps the plant is still be-ing grown under the formula in the USA!

To my mind this is the ‘TRUE’ ‘Elfi’but we cannot have two different plantswith the same name. The ‘Elfi’ which is avariegated form of ‘Natascha’ should bereferred to as ‘Elfi Natascha’ to differenti-ate the two.

My guess that there was an old ‘Elfi’


was confirmed when John Arden sent mea copy of Kent’s catalogue in 1979 in Cali-fornia where Vriesea ‘Elfi Variegata’ wason offer with parents shown as (‘ViminalisRex’ x tesselata) – you may recall that thecurrent name for tesselata is gigantea –and the price was ASK. This indicates a rareplant!!! To my mind this means that therewas a non variegated Vriesea ‘Elfi’ in ex-istence – somewhere! The name and quotedparentage suggest this hybrid was of Euro-pean origin and well before the revelationsfrom Belgium in 1997.

In the same catalogue Vriesea ‘Natacha’(note the spelling) was also available andshowing parents of (Fenestralis XPoelmanii) which indicates that in 1979‘Elfi’ and ‘Natascha’ were in no way re-lated even though both had variegatedSports. I would suggest that in those daysplants sold as ‘Natascha’ had a single spike.Just to confuse matters, in those days allfrom the one seed batch would have hadthe same cultivar name and these were notprimary crosses so some variation wouldhave occurred! This is perhaps confirmedthat on the same price list there was a plantwith the formula fenestralis x ‘Poelmanii’!!

Both the species used in these hybridsare from the subgenus Xiphion and withboth hybrids there is a certain oddity in thefloral arrangement. It is difficult to see whatdifferences there are but I believe them tobe.Vriesea ‘Elfi has:• Plant larger – difficult to assess becauseof feeding programs• Leaves less tessellated• Scape longer• Floral bracts wider• Floral bracts and sepals uniform(‘Natascha’ sometimes spotted)

So I’ll be changing the Cultivar Regis-ter to read

Vriesea ‘Elfi’ see also ‘Elfi Natascha’Vriesea ‘Elfi Natascha’, (‘Poelmanii’ x

fenestralis), Variegated, Sport from‘Natascha’, Simple inflorescence butsometimes branched, at one time knownonly as ‘Elfi’ Refer J. Brom. Soc. 47(3): 121.1997. Cargo Report describes it as ‘ A wideleaved hybrid with a purple spike. Theleaves have bold cream-colored variega-tion up the center.’ (Wurthmann developeda variegated form with this parentage 11/1991 unnamed as of 1998)

Vriesea ‘Elfi Green’ is ‘Elfi Natascha’that has lost its variegation.

Vriesea ‘Elfi’, (‘Viminalis Rex’ xgigantea), hybridist unknown, long scape,large branched inflorescence, there may bea variegated form in existence. Refer BSI-ICBH-1979 and Prelim listing 1991under‘Elfi’ and in Kents Catalogue 1979 under‘Elfi Variegata’

Ever noticed that sometimes your bro-meliads seem to be completely differentcolours in photographs using flash? Thiscan be very annoying if you are trying totake photographs to illustrate magazine ar-ticles where the criteria ‘Shape, Form andColour’.

I have a theory that certain chemicalsin the plants that give the plant some of itscolour fluoresce under the high UV lightpresent in the light from the flash. Thesechemicals may emit light of a different col-our when they fluoresce explaining the radi-cally different colours.

Have you ever noticed this?

Flash Photography andBromeliads

Author: Ross Stenhouse


A Little EducationThe following is an extract from infor-

mation published on the Bromeliad Soci-ety International web site. It has been pre-sented in this journal as a backup to theinformation given during the lectures givenat the monthly meetings of BSQ.

Bromeliads belong to the family Bro-meliaceae and are members of the ClassLiliopsida (monocots). Monocots compriseone quarter of all flowering plants. The fam-ily Bromeliaceae is divided into three sub-families: Pitcairnioideae, Bromelioideaeand Tillandsioideae.

Pitcairnioideae This subfamily con-tains the most ancestral bromeliads andmany resemble the grass family fromwhich they evolved. Almost all are terres-trial and rely on an extensive root systemfor their moisture and nutrients. They aregenerally spiny leaved and have dry cap-sules with small wingless seeds.

Bromelioideae This subfamily is themost diverse containing the greatestnumber of genera (but the least number ofspecies). Most species in this subfamily areepiphytic and characterized by a rosette-likeform many forming a water holding tank.They generally have spiny leaves and berrylike fruits containing wet seeds which areoften distributed by birds and animals whoconsume the fruits.

Tillandsioideae This subfamily con-tains very few genera but includes the mostnumber of species. Most of the membersof this subfamily are epiphytes. All havespineless leaves and their fruit is a dry cap-sule containing winged seeds which areusually dispersed by breezes. The featheryplumes also help the seed to adhere to asuitable epiphytic surface for germination.This subfamily is probably the most

AyensuaBrewcariaBrocchiniaConnelliaCottendorfiaDeuterocohniaDyckiaEncholiriumFosterellaHechtiaLindmaniaNaviaPepiniaPitcairniaPuyaSteyerbromelia

AlcantareaCatopsisGlomeropitcairniaGuzmaniaMezobromeliaRacinaeaTillandsiaVrieseaWerauhia

AcanthostachysAechmeaAnanasAndrolepisAraeococcusBillbergiaBromeliaCanistropsisCanistrumCryptanthusDeinacanthonDisteganthusEdmundoaFasciculariaFernseeaGreigia

HohenbergiaHohenbergiopsisLymaniaNeoglazioviaNeoregeliaNidulariumOchagaviaOrthophytumPorteaPseudaechmeaPseudananasQuesneliaRonnbergiaUrsulaeaWittrockia

BROMELIACEAEPitcairnioideae Tillandsioideae Bromelioideae


Aechmea ‘Smouldering Embers’ RSm

Aechmea ‘ Red Flame’ RSm

Aechmea ‘ Yellow Ochre’ RSm


My garden is renowned for the hundredor so very large red, salmon or greenaechmeas standing up to two metres tallwhen in flower. My bromeliad interest hasalways been neoregelias so why am I writ-ing about aechmeas? Purely a case of ser-endipity. Spotted a red leaved Aechmeablanchetiana once and that was enough tobreak my resolve down but then seeing aslide presented by Thelma O’Reilly at theninth conference of Australian BromeliadSocieties in West Australia was thepheromone setting me on the path to smell-ing one out. By mail I have tried to set upsearch parties to find her plant on thebeaches in Rio de Janeiro. One of myfriends a frequent visitor to such places saidtongue in cheek, “ My wife has forbiddenme to pick up anything (anyone?) that I findon beaches, and I definitely can’t bringthem home”.

You probably know that common folklike us acting like fully trained botanistsstick ‘Rubra’ onto the name of anythingmore red than normal. Well—this lead toseed on the ‘rubra’ form on Aechmeablanchetiana coming my way. Growingthese up in good faith I even wrote an arti-cle detailing the different colouring in theleaves of the young plants. In a later articleI wrote about the flowering diversity. Not aspecies. After contacting the grower, my socalled “Rubra” turned out to be seed froma hybrid. The seed -bearing plant lookedlike a red form of Aechmea blanchetianabut was actually found to be Aech ‘ForestFire’. The other plants in flower at the timewere Aechmea ‘Peaches ‘n Cream’ and the

bronze leaved form of Aechmeablanchetiana.

My seedlings are all different. Some keyout as Aechmea blanchetiana others asAechmea rubens but none fit the descrip-tion of either parent. From my study of allthe flowers I feel sure of an ancestor, Aech-mea blanchetiana and I’m confidant an-other ancestor is Aechmea mulfordii or ahybrid of the same. Aechmea rubens couldbe somewhere in the mix but now I amspeculating.

So what do we know about this parentplant Aechmea “Forest Fire’, the so calledAech blanchetiana ‘Rubra’ ?

1) It definitely has a large amount ofAech blanchetiana genetics.

2) From what the owner has told me,knowing the breeder of Aechmea ‘ForestFire’ is that it is almost definitely Aechmeablanchetiana x Aechmea ‘Peaches ‘nCream’.

3) If there is an exogenous parent of theseed supplied it would most commonly beAechmea blanchetiana, the bronze leavedform. The seed supplier never had the greenform or the more recently discovered yel-low or red forms large enough to flower.The existence of the yellow form needsconfirmation. It turned up in a collection inAfrica so could be a hybrid. I expect it toflower at the end of 2005. I believe I havesuggested a yellow form in a previous arti-cle. The plant in mention, not the African,plant turned out to be a hybrid.

I’ll take off my academic hat and writeabout some of these now flowering plants.If you were interested in the above discus-sion on possible parentage see my earlierarticle going into it in more depth1. There isnot room in this article to show all thenamed cultivars but they are all availablefor perusal on the http://fcbs.org/

Aechmea ‘Forest Fire’—Alliance.

by Rob Smythe MSc


Aechmea ‘ Forest Flame’ RSm

Neoregelia ‘Wild Tiger’ - some miniature Neos look good from both the top andunderneath This allows them to be placed high and viewed from the underside. RS


pictures.htm site on the internet.Plants with Salmon or Red Coloured

LeavesFrom the 200 or so seedlings these were

the ones I kept. Early flowerings showedthat the green leaved forms usually had in-florescences unlike Aechmeablanchetiana1. Being hybrids this has notalways been the case as I found out thisyear..

Aechmea ‘Fire Up’: I believe this tobe a selfing of Aechmea Forest Fire. So farit is the most red inflorescence that I haveseen in any of Aechmea blanchetiana alli-ance. The developing inflorescence is deepred. This total redness is eventually brokenby the emergence of bright yellow flowers.Plant is a salmon to red colour going moreyellow in direct sunlight and more green inshade. Spikes rather clumped with inflores-cence stately and erect. A top plant.

Aechmea ‘Golden Glow’: Again I be-lieve this to be a selfing of Aechmea ‘For-est Fire’ but it has a red rachis with red andyellow floral bracts giving a gold appear-ance. A very large and spreading inflores-cence staying erect for more than sixmonths. This is generally admired by all andgenerally considered the most beautiful ofall these plants.

Aechmea ‘Red Flame’: An exception-ally red plant when grown in bright light.Actually stays red in full sun. Inflorescencebrightly coloured red and yellow but spikesunlike Aechmea blanchetiana, being shortand clumped.

Aechmea ‘Smouldering Embers’:This plant is most easily described as a mini-ature Aechmea blanchetiana so I expect itis an outcross with Aechmea blanchetiana.Looks like bright red and orange beadsthreaded along the spike. It surprised meby flowering smaller (1.3 m to top of inflo-

rescence) than the others so before regis-tering I waited for an extra flowering. It wasthe same. Spikes are long and not clusteredbut unlike Aechmea blanchetiana, do nothave the singularly most importanttaxonomical feature, that is flowers sepa-rated by visible stem (lax) at early flower-ing (anthesis) time.

Aechmea ‘Forest Flame’: Flower con-trasts with Aechmea ‘Smouldering Em-bers’. Very large stretching 1.8 m to the tipof the inflorescence. I describe it as achunky inflorescence.

Aechmea ‘Yellow Ochre’: A stunninglarge erect and stately plant (1.8 m). Gath-ers nearly as many votes of approval as NeoGolden Glow. Inflorescence is nearly allyellow as first flower breaks in November/ December but now in May there is a lotof red showing in the floral bracts.

Aech ‘Pale Face’: A very unusualflower. Bright red scape with spikes almostmonochrome translucent yellow. Some-what weirdly to my way of thinking, thisplant, after going to so much trouble todevelop an insipiently yellow inflorescence(rachis, spikes and all types of bracts thistranslucent yellow) suddenly, late in its life,develops red fruiting bodies. These fruitsturn purplish black like all the others in thisalliance when seed matures. Don’t the birdshalf like them!

Green Leaved PlantsMost of these have to my way of think-

ing, not been worthy of a clonal name asthe flowers of most have had very little col-our in the very narrow congested spikes.

I have only registered two of these.These being Aechmea Orange Age whichhas a very flexible flower spike which goesorange as it ages and quickly becomes pen-dulous. This is very strange and must bean outcross with something like Portea


leptantha (a guess). The other is Aechmea‘Fatso’ which is a shorter squat plant whengrown in full sun. Leaves have water markvariegations. Such variegations are notwhite just thinning of strips of the leaves. Ihave one as yet unnamed plant which isgreen but does have a contrasting bright redinflorescence.

Aechmea blanchetiana: I have in-cluded this photo to show the unique flowerspike, see insert at the top left hand cornerof the photo—note the stem is visible be-tween flowers at anthesis .

The plants in mention, when out offlower, namely Aechmea blanchetiana andAechmea ‘Forest Fire’ hybrids are almostindistinguishable to the untrained eye. Ifyou mix them up the following may help.

General characteristics that I have foundwith my plants:

(1) Floral bracts shorter than flower in-ternode—A. blanchetiana Floral bractslonger than flower internode— Aechmea‘Forest Fire’ hybrid

(2) Spikes short rarely reaching 15 cmAechmea ‘Forest Fire’ hybrid Spike longnot less than 15 cm Aechmea blanchetianaand Exception Aechmea ‘Orange Glow’(to18 cm)

(3) Spikes in clumps over most of theinflorescence- Aechmea ‘Forest Fire’Spikes in clumps only on lower branchesA. blanchetiana

Rob Smythe MSc1) R. Smythe “Aech blanchetiana ‘Ru-

bra’ x self” Bromeliaceae Vol 36, No 1 May/June 2002 p 9 -13

Letters to the Editor

Lynn Hudson replies to Bob Reilly’sarticle on variegation and has suppliedsome futher tips that she has comeacross.tips.

At the World Bromeliad Conference2002, at St. Petersburg, Bob and I were de-lighted to meet the esteemed Nat DeLeonwho spoke of bromeliad variegation andhow he treats these plants to get as manypups as possible.• He overpots the mother plant before sheflowers and feeds her both from the top andbottom, the bigger the pot, the more plantshe gets.• He has drilled the meristem to producemore pups - yuk.• If the spike has emerged, he cuts it off torelease the hormone that induces pupping.• He trims and even removes the outsideleaves to allow more light to the buds andmake more room for the pups to grow.• If you are feeding heavily and your plantloses variegation, you are over feeding.• Cut off any green plants and keep onlythe variegated pups.• Place all variegated plants in as muchbright light as the plant can stand to pro-duce stronger variegation contrasts.• On seeds - he finds they usually comeup albino, then flake and die.• “As rules are meant to be broken andnothing surprises me about bromeliads”, hesuggested we try anything, like self polli-nating variegated plant flowers to see if theywould produce viable seed.• There has been a lot of talk about radia-tion producing variegation but Ralph Davisradiated seeds at Oak Ridge and the plantsand pups distorted as they grew.

Axil: The juncture of leaf and stem: theupper angle that a petiole or pedunclemakes to the stem that bears it.Peduncle: Stem of a flower cluster.Petiole: The stalk or stem of a leaf.


Pat Coutts of Mt Elliot, Nth Qld hassubmitted the following:

With reference to “The Case of the Fad-ing Variegation” by Bob Reilly July/August2005, I wish to make the following com-ment.

Many years ago I imported, at greatexpense, some Aechmea chantinii ‘Sho-gun’. As the years passed, other newerplants took up my time and interest. Overthis period we moved the entire collectionfrom the city to a rural area some 30 kmsto the south of Townsville.

When requested by another collectorfor an Aechmea ‘Shogun’, I couldn’t findany variegated plants at all. Now movingdoes involve a certain degree of neglect, it’sjust not possible to quickly handle all theplants that require attention and of coursethe softer leafed plants have to be tendedfirst.

One day I noticed a yellowy green Ae-chmea chantinii with a strikingly beauti-ful variegated pup. Upon further investiga-tion I found a number of these plants alllooking alike. I repotted all and placed themin lower light (hanging under a bench, oc-cupied by other plants) and gradually theirvariegations began to return.

They are true variegated beauties likethe aristrocrats that they are, with a stronggreen centre band, creamy albo-marginatedvariegations and silver bandings on theunderside of the leaves. They are not fastgrowers, nor do they produce numerouspups, but tend to their needs and you havea plant of which to be proud.

Also needing attention is Vriesea‘Grafton Sunset’. It has developed striatedvariegations from a green Mother Plant, inmy green house. All pups are variegated. Ibelieve this variegation has also occurredin Cairns.

Whilst the final plant, is not variegatedit does exhibit a marked difference in col-our from mplants grown in the south of thestate. The plant is Billbergia ‘Hallelulah’,a beautiful plant made by Don Beadle in1995, a cross between Billbergia vittata‘Domingos Martins’ and amoena ‘EdMcWilliams’. Tropically grown plants havea marked pinky colouration. I have anumber of these now and all are the same,althought plants given lower light condi-tions are definitely a little darker like one ofthe parents ‘Domingos Martins’. No mat-ter, ALL are beautiful, but it is a puzzle.

Many seedlings have a similar shapes(for their genus) while small; and developthe characteristic adult shape in latergrowth. The seedlings are left in the origi-nal mixture or on the mounting until theyare big enough to handle and transfer tocommunity pots or individual pots ormountings.

Growing bromeliads from seed is notfor the impatient. The faster growing spe-cies such as Neoregelias, Aechmeas or Bill-bergias may mature in 2-3 years while someof the slow growing atmospheric Tilland-sias will take 4-7 years.

Watch the developing plants. Occasion-ally, there will be an odd one which is worthspecial attention - a variegation in a leaf oran odd growth habit. Some years ago, Igrew a small crop of Tillandsia ionanthafrom seed. From a very early stage, it wasapparent that there was one odd plant thatgrew more rapidly than the others and hada slightly different shape. When it matured,it was apparent that it was a hybrid, withpollen parent unknown but suspected to beT. seleriana.

Good Growing. - Peter Paroz

Continued from page 13


BSQ Display at the Combined Show 2005 BB


The 2005 combined show of bromeli-ads, cacti and other succulents was heldover the Queens Birthday weekend on 11th

and 12th June. Nearly 3,000 people, fromall parts of Queensland, interstate, and over-seas attended the event, making it one ofthe most popular shows held throughoutthe year at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gar-dens.

Over 60 bromeliads were entered in the

2005 COMBINED SHOWREPORT(by Bob Reilly)

The quality of plants entered into thecompetition was high, although the numberwas less than last year.

There were entries in 17 of the 27classes, which was similar to previousyears. However, there were no entries inthe Novice class. This was a bit disappoint-ing, given the high quality of entrants in thisclass at the mini-shows which are held atthe Society’s general meetings each month.

The quality of entrants in theCryptanthus, Hechtia/Dyckia, Billbergia,and various novelty classes was particularlyhigh, and I congratulate the growers and“artistic designers” concerned.

I thank all of you who made the timeand effort to exhibit your plants in the com-petition. This is an important part of ourshow. I look forward to more exhibitorsand lots more plants for our Conferenceshow, and the 2006 Combined Show.

I thank the judges, student judges andcompetition stewards for their time and ef-fort, and for a job well done.

2005 COMBINED SHOWJUDGES REPORT

(by Olive Trevor)

bromeliad competition. Their quality washigh, with the judges facing some difficultdecisions. The quality of entrants in thecryptanthus, hechtia/dyckia, and the vari-ous novelty classes, was particularly high.There were 10 sections which had no en-trants in them. So, if you have some of theless commonly-grown bromeliads, this isa great opportunity to show other growers,and members of the public, what they looklike.

The displays were very attractive, at-tracting a lot of positive comment fromeveryone. A bromeliad tree, festooned withtillandsias, was the centrepiece of the bro-meliad display. The tree was surroundedby a colourful array of guzmanias, vrieseas,aechmeas, neoregelias, and billbergias.Many of these bromeliads were added tothe “wish lists” of the people who attendedthe show.

The sales area was well supported bygrowers, with over 1,000 varieties of bro-meliads, cacti and other succulents on sale.Plant quality was high. These two factorsresulted in record plant sales.

Over 100 people helped to organise andrun this event and their contribution ismuch appreciated, as is the support of thosegrowers supplying plants for sale.

BSQ Bromeliad Bonanza5-6 November 2005

Spectacular displays of bromeliadsOver 500 varieties/hybrids of

bromeliads on sale

For further information:Ph (07) 3390 2214Mob 0428 157 777


Vriesea hieroglyphica x fenestralis - GrandChampion - Combined Show 2005 DU

Gusmania ‘Red Star’ - Entrant - CombinedShow 2005 DU

Aechmea ‘Blue Tango’ - Entrant - CombinedShow 2005 DU

Dycia ‘Green Planet’ - Reserve Champion -Combined Show 2005 DU


Neoregelia ‘Passion’ - Display - CombinedShow 2005 DU

Ursulaea macvaughii - Combined Show2005 in Gold Coast display DU

Tillandsia jalisco-monticola - Entrant -Combined Show 2005 DU

Guzmania 'Marian Oppenheimer' - Entrant -Combined Show 2005 DU


Prizes awarded at the show are listed below.Class 1 – Tillandsia1st T. ehlersiana R Reilly 2nd T. disticha v. maxima A&P JamesClass 2 – Tillandsia in flower or spike1st T. deppeana G&N Aizlewood 2nd T. fasiculata hybrid L&O Trevor3rd T. ionantha ‘zebrina R ReillyClass 4 – Vriesea: decorative foliage1st V. ospinae v. gruberi D&J Upton 2nd V. fenestralis G&N Aizlewood3rd V. fosteriana G&N AizlewoodHighly Commended V. ‘Highway Beauty’ R&M DillingClass 5 – Guzmania1st G. ‘Mini Belle’ R&M Dilling 2nd G. ‘Gisela Variegata’ Y Daniel3rd G. ‘Mango’ R&M DillingClass 8 – Cryptanthus1st C. beuckeriR Paulsen 2nd C. ‘Black Mystic’ R Paulsen3rd C. ‘Red Tide’ R PaulsenClass 9 – Billbergia1st B. ‘Golden Joy’ A&P James 2nd B. ‘Los Manchos’ A&P James3rd B. ‘Strawberry’ G&N AizlewoodClass 10 – Aechmea1st Ae ‘Bert’ G&N Aizlewood 2nd Ae ‘Dark Godess’ A&P James3rd Ae ‘Bert’ A&P JamesClass 11 – Neoregelia (200 mm minimum diameter)1st N. ‘Everlasting’ Y Daniel 2nd N. ‘Painted Delight’ C Basic3rd N. pendula var brevifolia x eleutheropetala R PaulsenClass 12 – Neoregelia (200 mm minimum diameter)1st N. ‘Pheasant’ R Paulsen 2nd N. pauciflora R Paulsen3rd N. ‘Gift of Grace’ A&P JamesClass 14 – Other Bromeliodeae1st Canistrum ‘Leopardinum’ G&N Aizlewood 2nd Quesnelia edmundoi A&P JamesClass 16 – Hechtia or Dyckia1st D. ‘Green Planet’ R Paulsen 2nd D. ‘Betty Farnhill’ R Paulsen3rd D. ‘Naked Lady’ R PaulsenClass 18 – Other Pitcairnioideae1st Deuterocohnia brevifolia M D’AltonClass 19– Any Intergeneric1st Nidumea ‘Midnight’ G&N Aizlewood2nd Neophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’ L&O Trevor3rd Guzvriesia ‘Marion Oppenheimer’ R&M DillingClass 20 – Specimen: any genus1st Billbergia ‘Afterglow’ G&N Aizlewood 2nd Neo ‘Mini Skirt’ D&J Upton3rd Billbergia amoena x ‘Glory Be’ G&N AizlewoodHighly Commended Neoregelia olens x Manoa Beauty L&O Trevor

2005 COMBINED SHOW: COMPETITION RESULTS(compiled by Bob Reilly)


Aechmea 'Bert' - Class 10 1st - Combined Show 2005 DU

Cryptanthus 'Black Mystic' - Class 8 2nd - Combined Show 2005 DU


Class 22 – Bromeliad in a decorative pot1st Vriesea hieroglyphica x fenestralis L&O Trevor2nd Dyckia ‘Suntan’ C Basic 3rd Neoregelia ‘Lillipet’ I&D HoleHighly Commended Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’ G&N AizlewoodClass 23 – Bromeliad on a decorative mounting1st Tillandsia magnusiana P O’Dea 2nd Tillandsia funckiana M Windsor3rd Tillandsia streptophylla P O’DeaClass 25 – Novelty bromeliad display1st Neo pauciflora M Windsor 2nd ‘Small Bicycle’ E ReesBest Tillandsioideae (Nez Misso Memorial Trophy)Vriesea hieroglyphica x fenestralis L&O TrevorBest Bromelioideae (Hudson Perpetual Trophy)Neoregelia ‘Everlasting’ Y DanielBest Cryptanthus (Grace Goode Perpetual Trophy)C. beuckeri R PaulsenBest PitcairnioideaeDyckia ‘Green Planet’R PaulsenReserve Champion Bromeliad of ShowDyckia ‘Green Planet’R PaulsenChampion Bromeliad of ShowVriesea hieroglyphica x fenestralis L&O TrevorTom Schofield Memorial Award (Chairman’s award)Guzmania wittmackii variegata R&M Dilling

The society has the following books and items for sale:

• A Bromeliad Glossary (1998 edition) by the Bromeliad Society International (BSI) $13• A Guide to Beautiful Neoregelias by Shane Zaghini $20• Bromeliads: A Cultural Manual by BSI $5• Bromeliads: Next Generation by Shane Zaghini $33• Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden by Andrew Steens $36• Growing Bromeliads by the Bromeliad Society of Australia $22• Judges Handbook by BSI $34• Tillandsia Handbook by Hideo Shimizu & Hirouli Takizawa $66• The Book of Bromeliads (and Hawaiian Tropical Flowers) by Ronald W. Parkhurst $77• Back copies of Bromeliaceae (2005 editions) $4• Label-marking pencils $3

Post and package extra. Unfortunately, we cannot supply overseas orders. Pleasetelephone the Librarian, Mrs Evelyn Rees (07 3355 0432), to order books.

BOOKS FOR SALE


Ross Stenhouse reminded me that 5years have gone by since my article on therole and aspirations of a newly appointedBromeliad Cultivar Registrar.

To my mind the only way to succeed atthis international level was via the Internetand having a vibrant Web-site. A Web-siteprovides a cheap way to hold photographicrecords which are the best way to link plantsto names. Secondly, once the photographsare held in digital format they can be easilycopied and back-up copies held. The Cul-tivar Register can be accessed in two ways.

1. From Cultivar corner on http://BSI.org or

2. From the data base of Cultivarson http://fcbs.org

Starting from scratch with no photo-graphic records there are now some 4000on file of the total 7400 cultivar names re-corded. And the gap is closing even thoughobtaining authentic photographs of oldcultivars is not an easy task. The last 5 yearshas also seen an improvement in the pho-tography due to digital cameras.

There will always be problems withidentifying plants from photographs be-cause of different growing conditions butthis is a great improvement to a written de-scription. So, although the Register can beused to identify unnamed plants, its mainthrust is in confirming that the name alreadyon the plant is the correct one!

Much is said about the list maintainedby AQIS to check on the weed rating ofplants. But this is only a list. It has the sameusefulness as a Dictionary without the in-terpretation of the word next to it. It hasnothing to do with plant identity – just the

name on the label! What is intriguing is theattitude of AQIS with a ‘us versus them’attitude and yet they could get meaningfulresults by encouraging participation by oth-ers with more specialist experience.

This attitude would fail with a CultivarRegister where you must encourage par-ticipation by others. As was pointed out tome by Dr Alan Leslie of the Royal Horti-cultural Society in the UK, a passive Reg-istrar gets nowhere. This may mean tread-ing on a few toes but at least the subject ofcultivated plant identity gets discussed.

The Cultivar Registry for Bromeliaceaeis getting more international with namescoming in from Europe, Brazil, & Ven-ezuela as well as the vast majority from theUSA and Australia, with Florida being themost productive. One success story is inNew Zealand where Gerry Stansfield is theRegistrar. Much to Gerry’s chagrin someregistrations come direct to me but as Ipoint out, at least NZ growers are taking aninterest which was not there 5 years ago.

I always think of Hawaii as separatefrom the USA for some reason or anotherand they could do with some encourage-ment. I had thought the Cultivar Awardmade to Sharon Petersen in 2004 wouldhave provoked some rivalry but this has notyet happened.

The Philippines is a worry because oftheir cheap labour and good climate and apropensity to change names to suit inter-national trade. So you can get the sameplant under a different name. When thisoccurs I note the Register so anyone cancheck up on an anomaly.

Remember the Register is only as goodas the information advised. Luckily it is onComputer so that errors can be correctedquite promptly.

FIVE Years On by Derek Butcher



Grey-leafed, or atmospheric, tillandsiasare often grown by securing them to“mounts” such as pieces of cork or wood.This approach has the advantage of effec-tively utilising a limited growing space, asthe plants can be suspended from a shadehouse’s walls or roof, instead of usingscarce bench space.

However, many grey-leafed tillandsiascan be grown successfully in pots. Suchplants are usually more symmetrical in ap-pearance, larger, produce more offsets(pups), and have larger infloresences, thantheir “mounted” brothers and sisters. Fur-ther, the shape and size of some tillandsiasmakes them difficult to mount successfully.

The approach I use in growing thesetillandsias is outlined below.

The use of freely draining potting mix-tures is important, as otherwise plant rotand death often occur. I use a mixture com-prised of pine (Pinus radiata) bark chunks(such as is often used to grow cymbidiumand dendrobium orchids), and charcoal. Sixparts of pine bark are combined with onepart of charcoal to form the potting mix-ture. The chunks vary in size, but most areabout 15 mm in diameter.

Aeration of the potting mixture can beimproved by using “open mesh”, ratherthan solid, pots. (Figure 3 shows such apot.) The pots I use have diameters rang-ing from 50 to 200 mm. (The original de-sign was derived from swimming pool fil-ters).

However, some tillandsias prefer not tohave any potting mixture around their

GROWING GREY-LEAFED TILLANDSIAS

IN POTSAuthor: Bob Reilly

roots. In such cases, I simply place the plantin the pot where they appear to grow quitewell – see Figure 4.

I live in a location where frost does notoccur, so the plants are grown under shadecloth throughout the year. The plants areusually watered twice a week in summer,and once a week for the balance of the year.

The plants respond well to applicationsof liquid fertiliser. I use a fertiliser whichhas a Nitrogen (N) : Phosphorous (P) : Po-tassium (K) ratio of 14 : 4.4: 22.5. No doubtthere are liquid fertilisers with similarchemical analyses available throughout theworld. I apply the fertiliser weekly.

When potting pups, it is important theyare firmly held by the potting mixture, orgrowth is slow (perhaps non-existent!). Itis difficult to hold tall pups firmly in therelatively “loose” bark/charcoal mixture.One way of dealing with this issue, is toplace a plastic “hanger” on the pot. Thehanger’s three “legs” help hold the pup inposition—see Figure 5.

As I have a limited amount of benchspace, I ”hang” the pots wherever practi-cal. I have seen several approaches usedsuccessfully:

· Pots can be suspended from thehorizontal supports holding up a shadehouse’s roof using the plastic hangers re-ferred to previously. However, the hangerscan impede developing leaves on largerplants.

· Long wire “hangers”, with one endshaped so as to hold a pot can also beused—see Figure 2. However, larger plantscan tilt outwards from these devices.

· Lengths of galvanised steel rod canbe wrapped around a galvanised pipeplaced in the ground. The outer ends ofthese rods are then shaped so as to hold apot. The rods are positioned at various


Fig 1 A “forest” of hanging tillandsias (mainly Tillandsia fasiculata) SR

Fig 3 Tillandsia fasiculata growingin pot without any potting mixture SR

Fig 2 Tillandsia fasiculatasuspended in wire hanger SR


heights and orientations on the galvanisedpipe, so that the plants’ leaves do not verti-cally overlap.

Depending upon how you grow yourbromeliads, a large number of tillandsiascan be suspended from a shade house’sceiling—see Figure 1. This approach max-imises the number of plants that can be ac-commodated in the shade house.

Grey-leafed tillandsias I have success-fully grown in pots include: brachycaulos,carlsoniae, compressa, copanensis,ehlersiana, extensa, fasiculata, flabellata,hildae, jalisco-monticola, ortigiesiana,rhomboidea, rodrigueziana, rotundata,seleriana, subteres, triclor, variablis,vicentina, and xerographica.

AcknowledgementsI wish to thank Barry Genn and Nev

Ryan for the advice they have given me ongrowing tillandsias, and Susan Reilly for thephotographs used to illustrate this article.

Occasionally, variegated bromeliads(and much more rarely, non-variegatedones), produce a pup without any chloro-phyll in its leaves. The leaves of these pupsare usually completely white. This is a formof albinism.

Because their leaves lack chlorophyll,and thus cannot produce the sugars or“food” the plant needs, such pups will ulti-mately die if detached from the motherplant. So, if you wish to enjoy them, leavethem attached to the mother plant and theymay survive for several years. As the pho-tograph on the page opposite of Neorege-lia ‘Sheeba’ shows, these pups can be quiteattractive.

If you do not wish to keep the albino

pup, then remove it as soon as possible, asit “drains” the mother plant’s resources, andreduces the number of pups it will produce.

Some pups have a few leaves which arenot entirely white. Depending upon theamount of chlorophyll they have, suchpups may be able to be detached, and pro-duce a mature plant. However, they willprobably need careful attention as they areusually much “weaker” then normal plants.Unfortunately, the extra stress associatedwith flowering often kills these plants be-fore any worthwhile pups are produced.

ALBINO BROMELIADS(by Bob Reilly)

Canistropsis means “resembling Can-istrum” that is, the name of the genus Can-istrum, from the Greek kanos (= basket),is joined to the Greek suffix opsis meaning“like” or “manner of”. The name Canis-tropsis therefore arose from the apparentsimilarity of its species to Canistrum.

Within the “Project Nidularium”, thewealth of data that has led to a narrowercircumscription of the nidularioid-complexgenera (Leme 1997) also made the positionof Canistropsis as a genus in its own right,intermediate to Neoregelia and Nidu-larium. We now know understand the his-toric vacillation of Canistropsis betweenthe two genera, and believe that the eleva-tion of Canistropsis to the rank of genus isfully justified.

(Compiled extract from ‘Bromeliads ofthe Atlantic’ by Elton M. C. Lerne andavailable from the Association library)

A little Education on theGenus Canistropsis

fasciculata: In close bundeles or cluster.punctulata: Minutely spotted; spotted.recurvata: With recurved leaves.streptophylla: With twisted leaves.stricta: Upright; erect; very straight


Fig 4 Tillandsia streptophyllagrowing in pot without any pottingmixture DU

Fig 5 The plastic hanger’s “legs” helpto hold the pup of the Tillandsiadistricha firmly in position SR

Albino Pup growing Neoregelia‘Sheeba’ mother RS

Miniature neos can look good inclusters - Neoregelia lilliputiana RS


Most growers will tell you commonsense vanishes when they behold a sale ta-ble of bromeliads but it usually returns af-ter the (much lighter) wallet is put away.Common sense should be with us once werecover from our buying spree and have ournew plant or plants settled in pride of place,definitely within eyesight and perhapswithin reach.

At this stage I want to know all aboutmy new acquisition, so out come the books,then the Internet check as I compare myplant with any write up and any photographto be found by that name. This is whencommon sense should be accompanied bycuriosity. If the descriptions or photo-graphs do not match the new plant, maybethe new plant is not the one written on thelabel. The reason could be one of several –maybe the label is wrong; maybe the labelgot mixed up; maybe the plant has beengrown in bad or even better conditions etc.

If we know our species plants, the par-entage can be recognised in the progeny ofmany hybrids. An easy example is Aech-mea ‘J.C. Superstar’ – it is pink from thered form of ramosa and has strong, spinedleaves with scurfed bands from chantinii.The inflorescence is open and more likeramosa than chantinii. Aechmea ‘J.C Su-perstar’ is not a dependable flowerer but itwill provide many pups both before andafter flowering. A large pink plant that givesmany pups and tolerates ‘all day sun’ inCairns - who cares if it never flowers?

Aechmea ‘Flamingo’ is being grownaround Australia and called ‘Red Fla-

mingo’. ‘Pink Flamingo’ I would under-stand as the plant is a pink/mauve colour,but not red. What happened to curiosityand common sense? Curiosity would havefound on page 30 of the ‘The BromeliadCultivar Registry’: “Red Flamingo cv. ofwarasii? x weilbachii f. leodensis”, madeby Hummel before 1979.

Common sense would now say “war-asii and weilbachii are each soft leafedplants, why are these leaves stiff?Aechmeas warasii and all forms of weil-bachii have small spines so why are theseleaves heavily spined? Neither of themhave banding - warasii leaves are greenwith some red basal spotting and whilstweilbachii f. leodensis is a copper colour -from whence came this beautiful colour?”Common sense sadly says, “Humbug, keeplooking”.

Curiosity would now mooch around theBCR and common sense would suggestlooking for a Flamingo. On page 13 thereare two! The first by Yamamoto in 1964says “cv. of fendleri x chantinii – Largew/violet-bronze leaves and striking duskylilac-red many branched inflorescence in-termediate of the parents.” This is morelike it, the leaf and inflorescence coloursmatch my plant and there is chantinii typebanding across the leaves. I have foundchantinii usually bestows scurfy bandingon progeny when used as a parent in hy-bridizing. There is also a reference toBaensch p.76, so the very beautiful“Blooming Bromeliads” is opened and onone page is a picture of the lovely inflores-cence of my plant.

The BCR is still open and curiosityreads the second ‘Flamingo’ entry – “cv.of unreleased tessmannii hybrid parentage– (see ‘Fantasia’) – Large tessmannii typerosette w/upright branched inflorescence w/

Common Sense, Curiosity& Superstars, Flamingos

and Rainbows.Author: Lynn Hudson


lax pink scape bracts and creamy yellow-white upturning branches and bracts.”Bullis, P. 1998. Sounds good.

Curiosity turns to the Internet and findstwo sites www:bromeliad.org.au andwww:fcbs.org but there is no ‘Flamingo’.Frustration looks for ‘Red Flamingo’ andsure enough there is a plant almost identi-cal to my ‘Flamingo’ – mine is tropicallydarker. Oh no, listed for all to see, that im-possible parentage again! I emailed a fewlines to the Cultivar Registrar, your UncleDerek Butcher, and he agreed and said itwould be changed on the website. No, thatwas not all: -

In March at the Sunshine Coast Soci-ety meeting I saw two flowering plants eachidentical in size and inflorescence but onedid not have the violet/bronze colour butdid have scurfy bands. One was namedAechmea fendleri x chantinii and the otherAechmea ‘Red Flamingo’. Can’t I get awayfrom the red flamingo? I told the growerthe plants were very well grown (they were)and that the mauve one was ‘Flamingo’.The answer is one I hear very often “Thatis the name I got with the plant”. I spokeof the parentage but he stayed with hisstatement. I hope he was later visited bycuriosity and common sense.

It also happened at Cairns aechmeamini show when Aechmea ‘Rainbow’ wasentered with Aechmea orlandiana on thenametag. The ‘I got it with the plant’ linewas answered with “You grow Aechmeaorlandiana in both the dark and light formsand you also have common sense whichscreams this magnificent plant is different.”It is very different. A beautiful dark plantthat glows red in the central leaves in ourhot sun.

I enjoy my books more than I enjoy theInternet for many reasons, one is that I can

open each one and fit them all on the tabletogether and do a good comparison. Thereare six that never get put into the bookcase,they just live on the ‘randah where I andvisiting society members have easy accessto them.

I do enjoy the “Bromeliad Cultivar Reg-istry” especially the older entries that dis-cuss the plants. I have learned a lot of stufffrom that book, a lot of good stuff that Iuse in my growing and talking. SometimesI just go off on a trip when I see JimElmore’s hybrid names – through Egyptwith Cleopatra, the Arabian Nights and Iam just “Gone with the Wind” untilcommonsense says “back to the pottingbench”. Reluctantly I close the BCR andtake my sated curiosity and mycommonsense wrapped with my newknowledge and prepare some more plantsfor new homes.

The BCR is currently out of print. Ihave been told it will not be reprinted, asthe information is available on the Internet.There are still many people who for vari-ous reasons are not connected to the Inter-net. I hope commonsense prevails and theBCR is reprinted. I wonder if curiosity willcheck on the number of persons who wanta copy of this book.

Sept - Quesnelia, Racinaea,Ronnbergia,Steyerbromelia

Oct - Tillandsia, TofieldiaNov - Ursulaea, Vriesea,

Werauhina,Wittrochia

Plant of the MonthProgramme - 2005


A Beginners Taleby Ross Stenhouse

For a number of years, at home we hada number of clumps of bromeliads situatedin various parts of the garden. These plantshad been there before we purchase thehouse over 15 years ago. We didn’t knowwhat they were, but I asked Jan not to pullthem up, I liked them. Well eventually thefront retaining wall fell down and we hadto have it replaced, and out came thebroms. Jan decided to compost a lot ofthem, but quite a few were spared and werepotted. These were shortly joined by morebroms given to Jan by a friend and theseusually carried labels like ‘Pink Brom’.

To cut a long tale short, I became theeditor of this journal and plant labels startedto have some significance. Jan and I lookedup references on the web and we tried toidentify the plants in our collection, one weidentified was Billbergia brachysyphon.Dutifully we labelled a number of pots andthus they remained. I photographed theflowers when they came to bloom andagain labelled my photographs the sameas the plants. Recently I was reading “Un-cle Derek Says” on the web (http://fcbs.org/butcher/dereksays.htm#index) and I cameacross an article on Billbergia nutan andlooked at the photos that accompanied thearticle.

It occurred to me that the my billber-gias were similar to the photos on the web,however the names weren’t the same, so itwas a quick email off to Uncle Derek (BSQmember Derek Butcher) and a reply cameback as follows “As far as I am aware Bill-bergia brachysyphon is not in Australiaand is in the Helicodea group so its petalswould really coil up. I am pretty sure yoursis Billbergia ‘Windii’ a hybrid of B. nutans.

See J. Brom. Soc. 48(6):247-9. 1998”Well, so I don’t have what I thought,

but now it’s more exciting because I havethe unexpected.

This detective work is interesting andwhat I have learnt is that there are peoplewithin our group who, by world standards,are experts in the true sense of the word.These people will freely give of their timeto help a beginner to get established in thepassion of growing bromeliads.

What it also shows is that identifying aplant by the photographs that appear oninternational web sites can be difficult. Thatdifficulty is compounded by the very com-prehensiveness of the sites and the minordifferences between some species and hy-brids.. The excellent Florida Council of Bro-meliad Societies’ site (http://fcbs.org) beinga good example of a great web site onbroms. I think it’s time that we had a website that only listed the broms grown inAustralia and was accompanied by photo-graphs of Australian-grown broms. Obvi-ously such a site would require continualmaintenance, buts that’s another story anda problem easily overcome. Maybe this is aproject the Society could undertake.

On the page over I have presented fourphotographs showing my Billbergia ‘Win-dii’ flowering over a three week period. Priorto taking the photographs, I didn’t havemuch of an interest in billbergias as the flow-ers didn’t last. Now I hold them in greatregard and treat them with new respect. Tak-ing photographs of the flowers over a pe-riod of time really gives a good apprecia-tion of the significant changes that takeplace.

I would like to thank Derek for his helpand for the interesting articles that he haswritten and have appeared in this and otherforums.


A photographic sequence featuring Billbergia ‘Windii’. In this sequence We are attempting toshow the development of the bract and flowers. RS


I am in contact with Deroose, Corn. Bakand other large sellers of Bromeliads but itis interesting how few plants reach Austral-ian shores. It is not surprising because theyare produced from similar ‘raw’ materialand rarely do you see one which is dis-tinctly different. Hybrids in Australia tendto stay local – what is common in Adelaideis rare in Perth or, say, Brisbane. Plants onlyseem to move in quantity when they areexceptional or have been specially pro-moted.

Remember that every seed grown hasthe potential to produce different lookingprogeny and there are many unnamed hy-brids being grown and actively sold as‘landscape plantings’. Those that make itto the Show bench deserve to be identifiedwith their own name. To my mind a plantsold without a name or a deliberate wrongname should be at half price – as are dogswithout a pedigree! If we are not fairly con-fident of correct names whether hybrid orspecies, how can we discuss such topicsin, say, ‘Bromeliaceae’

There is one oddity I must bring to theattention of Queensland readers of ‘Bro-meliaceae’. Whereas Queenslanders out-side Brisbane seem dedicated to contribut-ing cultivated plant identity to a centralRegistry those from Brisbane environs arevery reluctant to tell others of their achieve-ments in seed raising. Perhaps I have gotthe wrong perception from commentsmade by Brisbane members who seemmore concerned with perceived errors in themechanics of the Registration system thanin actually registering.

I am optimistic that this trend can bereversed and we may even see the appoint-ment of a Registrar for Queensland just asthe New Zealanders have done.

Continued from page 31Unsung Heroes

In every society, there are a number of‘Unsung Heroes’. These are the people whowork tirelessly in the background, oftenwith little public recognition, yet perform-ing a job/s that are of great benefit to eachand every member. In my capacity as Edi-tor, I have a small band of willing workerswho write articles and send in photographs.These people get a bit of recognition as theyare accredited for their photos and articles.

However buried in the background ofthe operation are those who proof-read themagazine prior to publication. This is ahuge-sized task. As editor I have a numberof people who have volunteered to do theproof-reading, Peter Paroz, Lynn Hudson,Bob Reilly and Roy Pugh. Each of thesepeople has a specialist area of knowledgewhich is used to good effect. Peter, Lynnand Bob are plant specialists, they pick-upmis-spellings in plant names as well as gen-eral areas. Roy, on the other hand, goesthrough the text looking for punctuationand spelling errors. He has an eye for finedetail. Roy sets an early draft of Brome-liaceae to do the first pass on the proof-reading. I send Roy a PDF file via emailand receive a word document back with thedetails of the corrections.

Roy also heads up the distribution de-partment. He liaises with the societies sec-retary, Karen Murday to get the latest mem-bership list and addresses the envelopes andstuffs them with Bromeliaceae. After that,he posts them in accordance with the postoffice’s requirements.

For Roy’s outstanding work in thebackground with very little public profile,Roy, in my opinion, he is truly a ‘UnsungHero’.


Neoregelia ‘Bits & Pieces’ RSNeoregelia ‘Coral Fire’ RS

Neoregelia ‘Alley Cat’ RS

Minitature Neo’sIn the March/April edition of this journal we featured minature Neo’s In this editionwe decided to present photos of a few more as a mini-feature.

Neoregelia ‘Wee Willy’ RS


No bromeliad is truly devoid of leafcolour (i.e. black), but some come closewith predominant or solid shades of in-digo, magenta, mahogany and auberginepurple, to deepest ebony. These dark beau-ties can be loosely grouped into two cat-egories of those with rather fixed pigmen-tation and others of very variable foliagehues. Anthocyanic pigments, which maskor combine with the green undertone andserve several purposes, produce this foliarattractiveness.

Some bromeliads have inherently-highamounts of anthocyanins , such asCryptanthus zonatus forma fuscus, manyof whose progeny hybrids are dark to adegree, even in moderate to low light. Ex-cessive light can turn them an objection-able muddy brown shade. Characterised bythin, shiny leaves, in this group thebicolored-leaf Aechmeas, notably Ae.victoriana var. discolor and fulgens var.discolor are parents to ‘Belizia’, ‘BettyPfeuffer’, ‘Black on Black’, ‘Black Jack ’,‘Black Flamingo’, ‘Black Tiger’, ‘ByGolly’, ‘Chocolate Soldier’, ‘Dark Crystal’,‘Ebony Glow’, ‘Grape’, ‘Jean’, ‘Lullaby’,‘Mirlo’, ‘Nightlight’, ‘Pica’, ‘Perez’,‘Prieto’ and ‘Tonado’. Cultivars or hybridsof Aechmeas orlandiana, nudicaulis,recurvata and dark-leaved clones of chan-tinii are ‘Blackie’, ‘Black Beauty’, ‘BlackMarble’, ‘Black Panther’, ‘Black Prince’,‘Jackson’ (syn. ‘Bill Barrett’), ‘Nigre’,‘Pickaniny’ and ‘Shadow’. In other gen-era of forest-dwelling ancestry areNidularium ‘Nana’, Canistropsis ‘Plum’and a host of Cryptanthus—-acaulis var.ruber, ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Black Magic’,

‘Darkling’, ‘Deep Purple’, ‘Don Garrison’,‘Genuineus’, ‘Gillian’s Joy’, ‘MasonCongo’, ‘Out of Africa’, ‘Sangria’ and‘Witches’ Brew’.

The other category have thicker ormore leathery leaves and tend to requiredirect sunlight or bright diffusion. Relianton the daylight length and intensity to in-duce this seasonal “suntan” effect, theyrevert to greener tissues if available light isinadequate. Of course during the growingphase poor light (such as constant cloudcover) and overfeeding particularly withNitrogen can result also in excessively-long,narrow leaves, affecting rosette shape. Inmany cases species name forms with theinvalid term “rubra” added (e.g. Aechmealueddemanniana ‘Rubra’ ) may be simplynot different genetically to “normal ” (un-less the extra redness is transmitted by seed) but rather are more light-exposed speci-mens, whose foliage colour soon fades inlower light.

Examples are Alcantarea ‘Black Cin-ders’, vinicolor; Dyckia ‘Cherry Coke’,‘Dark Chocolate’, ‘Dark Night’,encholirioides, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Port Wine’, ‘RedDevil’, ‘Ruby Ryde’; Billbergia ‘BlackGem’, ‘Clyde Wasley’, ‘Sangre’; Neorege-lia ‘Black Bandit’, ‘Black Devil’, ‘BlackMagic’, ‘Chocolate’, ‘Dark Delight’, ‘DarkDiva’, ‘Dark Horse’, ‘Darkest Hour’, ‘Dex-ter’s Pride’, ‘Fosperior’, ‘Little Black’, ‘Lit-tle Africa’, ‘Mandela’,‘Midnight’(Wurthmann), ‘Pitch Black’,‘Plum Sheen’, ‘Popolo’, ‘Prince of Dark-ness’, ‘Purple Princess’, ‘Royal Flush’,‘Voodoo Magic’, ‘Thor’; Werauhiasanguinolenta ‘Rubra’. Among bigenericsare X Cryptbergia ‘Red Burst’, X Neomea‘Magenta Star’, X Nidumea ‘Midnight’, XNeophytum ‘Burgundy Hill’, ‘Shiraz’ andX Ortholarium ‘Burgundy’.

Darkest Delightsby Geoff Lawn.


Over 4000 different plant pigment com-pounds called flavonoids are known,present in all higher-ranked plant families’foliage, roots, stems, flowers, bracts, fruit,berries, seeds and even bark. Flavonoids aresub-divided into chalcones, flavones,flavanols, flavanones, isoflavanoids andanthocyanins.

To date there are nearly 600 differentanthocyanins discovered in the plant king-dom. Their main purpose in bromeliads isto shield or screen the upper leaf surfaces’DNA and photosynthesis process fromexcessive sunlight damage. This functionapplies especially to sun-exposed, sparsely-scurfed wild species in the thinner atmos-phere at high altitudes, particularly ifstressed through moisture and nutrient de-ficiencies. Comparable foliage colouringnearer sea level is not always possible incultivation. In deep shade-tolerant speciesin forest habitat it seems likely that darkred or purple anthocyanins in the foliagereverses (e.g. Canistropsis burchellii)gather and reflect unabsorbed light backinto the mesophyll, effecting photosynthe-sis, since solar radiation is proportionallyenriched in red and far red light by selec-tive absorption of the shorter wavelengthsas it passes through leafy canopies.Anthocyanins in bromeliad foliage aresometimes more pronounced at flowering,as per Billbergia ‘Penumbra’ whose outerleaves turn more inky blue. Many typeshave castaneous inner leaf sheaths (e.g.Aechmea caudata) or blackish outer leafbases (e.g. Vriesea erythrodactylon ) whichare thought to encourage small fauna tohide and defecate there, nourishing theplant. Dark blue “fingernail” leaf tips (e.g.Vriesea bituminosa ) are considered aspossible cue markers for pollinators. Pro-nounced blackish horizontal crossbands

(e.g. Vriesea splendens ) ,vertical cyanicpinstripes (e.g. Guzmania lingulata ) anddeep purplish foliage spots (e.g. Neorege-lia pauciflora ) may enhance autotrophicperformance (carbon gain).

A select group feature blackish inflores-cences in part. A number have navy blueor black petals, including Pitcairnia nigra,Tillandsia atroviolacea and Puya humilis.Such species’ flowers attract pollinators byeither bright scape or leaf bracts, or in thecase of Puya coerulea var. violacea, scar-let- branched rhachis (stems) with promi-nent gold stamens protruding from blackpetals. Vrieseas ‘Negro’ and ‘Van Ackeri’display amaranth scape bracts with con-trasting yellow flowers. In many species(e.g. Aechmea bracteata ) mature fertileovaries or berry sacs change to blackishpods when ripe, a signal for seed eaters thatthey are edible, ensuring the viable black-ish seeds within are distributed once ex-creted.

Another theory maybe applicable tobromeliads as with other plants is that cer-tain foliage anthocyanins are bitter-tasting,repelling predators. Obviously more de-tailed field studies are required for defini-tive answers specific to bromeliads.

The solar radiation used by plants tomanufacture carbohydrates isphotosynthetically active radiation (PAR).Most if not all bromeliads convert this en-ergy by the complex C3 type photosynthe-sis pathway. Four primary classes of leafpigments utilising the full light spectrum,often in tandem, are:

1. Chlorophylls. Chlorophyll A absorbsvisual light spectrum wavelengths otherthan green (particularly red and violet ) andreflects blue -green light. Similarly, Chlo-rophyll B , an accessory pigment, reflectsyellow-green light.


2. Carotenoids. Absorb blue light andpass the energy over to Chlorophyll A mol-ecules. They also protect against shortwavelength visible and ultraviolet radiation.Reflect orange-yellow light.

3. Xanthophylls. Associated withcarotenoids and assist chlorophylls. Reflectyellow light.

4. Anthocyanins. Reflect red, violet andblue light rays.

In cultivation at least, particularly re-sponsible for foliage burn is ultra-violet(UV) light, which is outside the visible lightspectrum of 400-700 nanometers (nm).Based on wavelengths, it is divided into UV-A, UV-B and UV-C. The longer wavelengthUV-A has less energy and causes little orno damage to humans or plants. UV-C isabsorbed by atmosphere oxygen and rarelystrikes the Earth’s surface.

UV-B is absorbed by ozone and as theEarth’s ozone layer has depleted in the last40 years, UV-B damage is potentially moreharmful when it strikes upper leaf surfaces,releasing energy. UV-B radiation can rup-ture the cell membranes and chloroplastorganelles, interrupting photosynthesis.UV-B can cause the plant’s paired strandsof genetic material in the DNA double he-lix to become cross-linked, preventing celldivision and other vital cellular processessuch as protein production. Damaged leaftissues can become discoloured and die.Generally, healthy plants can grow throughthe UV-B irradiation damage if it’s not se-vere. In bromeliads anthocyanins act asstress markers and these water-soluble pig-ments accumulate in the vacuoles of theepidermal or sub-epidermal cells but pos-sibly in the leaf mesophyll also.

A number of plain green and grey-leaved bromeliad species and cultivars sim-ply will never redden no matter how intense

the light exposure—anthocyanins are ab-sent. Their foliage bleaches and may evensunburn, particularly if shifted suddenlyfrom low light positions to maximum ex-posure. Others at best “bronze up” or turnpink but don’t achieve dark red to purplish-black tones. Other factors influencing theoutcome are the day length, diurnal tem-perature fluctuations, actual daily sunlighthours (minus cloud cover), relative humid-ity, shade cloth density and colour (60-90%beige cloth enhances red bromeliad foliagein tropical and sub-tropical climates at least)and growing medium nutrients. The mod-ern polycarbonate sheeting (especially opalwhite colour) is ideal for many bromeliadsnot only for it’s diffused bright light trans-mission but as Winter protection and thisUV-resistant roof cover helps prevent leaf-burn in Summer. Producing anthocyanictints may be less attainable under artificiallighting indoors. Regular watering and highrelative humidity in all seasons also helpsprevent burning, as does adequate ventila-tion to prevent heat build-up. It’s funda-mentally true also that well-nourished,healthy plants withstand excessive solarradiation better than weak, starved or des-iccated plants.

It could be perceived that these dark-leaved bromeliads look lifeless either enmasse or singly and, indeed, they can ap-pear sombre when shown this way. How-ever, as companion plants in a mixed dis-play or landscape design, these darkies pro-vide the perfect backdrop by contrast andsolidarity to forms with lighter-patternedfoliage, notably variegates. In artistic ar-rangements requiring dramatic or bold sim-plicity, blackish rosettes or leaves can evokethemes of evil and mysticism. Glossy darkfoliage in competition entries invariablyneeds extra cleaning or pre-wiping as in-


variably grime and salt/lime deposits showup more otherwise.

The preceding “black list” is not ex-haustive and some are difficult to group asthey change colour and markings accord-ing to where and how they are grown. Lit-erally and figuratively-speaking, this mul-titude of dark-foliaged bromeliads, oftenwith long-lasting, attractive inflorescencesalso, vie for a plum role in our collections.ReferencesBenzing, David. 1980. The Biology of theBromeliads. Chapters 4,5,7,8. Mad RiverPress Inc.Bromeliad Society International, CultivarRegistry Online Database.Website: http://bsi.org/Debenham, C. 1979. The Language ofBotany. S. Beatty & Sons, Printers, NewSouth Wales.Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies,Photo Index.Website: http://fcbs.org/Friendli, Georges-Louis, PgDip, MSc,PhD.Flavanoids.Friendli Enterprises Website: http://www.friendli.com/herbs/phytochem/flavanoids.htmlJulien, Don. 2000. What kicks in theanthocyanins? Seattle Rose Society.Website: http://www.bmi.net/roseguy/redshoot.htmlSeigler, David S. University of Illinois.Flavonoids and Related Compounds.Website: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/363/lecture11.htmlSullivan, Jack. Anthocyanins.Website: http://www.charlies-web.com/specialtopics/anthocyanin.html

For over 25 years, our Society, and theCactus and Succulent Society ofQueensland have had a combined show(and plant sales) of bromeliads, cactus, andother succulents at the Mt Coot-tha BotanicGardens, on the Queens’ Birthdayweekend.While these events have been successful,the popularity of the two plant groups hasresulted in large crowds of people attendingthe shows in recent times, especially on theSaturday mornings. This outcome hascreated a safety issue for our customers,and the Society members “staffing” theshow.Unfortunately, no viable long-term solutionto this problem appears available, althoughsome short-term measures could be tried.The Cactus and Succulent Society ofQueensland recently expressed a desire tocease the Combined Show from 2006onwards. They sought our Society’s viewon the matter and were advised:“…The Bromeliad Society of Queensland(BSQ), while willing to have a 2006Combined Show, is also happy to have aseparate BSQ show in early March 2006.This would leave the 2006 Queen’sBirthday weekend for your (ie. Cactus andSucculent Society of Queensland) show.For 2007 onwards, it is considered bothsocieties should have separate shows. Thiswould provide a long-term solution to theSaturday morning crowding issue. TheBSQ would not seek the Queen’s Birthdayweekend for its show.Needless to say, the BSQ wishes your so-ciety every success for the future, irrespec-

END OF THE COMBINEDSHOW

(by Bob Reilly)

BSQ Christmas PartyDecember 8th


SCHEDULE OF 2005/06MONTHLY MEETING TALKS(compiled by Olive Trevor and Bob

Reilly)

At each of the Society’s monthly meet-ings there is a 45 minutes (approxi-mately) presentation on a bromeliad-re-lated topic/s. The schedule for 2005/06is outlined below. Please note it is sub-ject to change, depending upon theavailability of speakers.• September 2005 Some neoregeliahybrids. Presenter: Arnold James.• October 2005 Growingnidulariums/canistropsis. Pleasebring along any of these plants youmay have. Discussion leader: OliveTrevor.• November 2005 A South Ameri-can Trip. Presenter: Greg Aizlewood.• January 2006 Different forms ofTillandsia fasiculuta, T. jalisco-monticola and their hybrids. Pleasebring along any of these plants youmay have. Discussion leader: NevRyan.• February 2006 After the AnnualGeneral Meeting, there will be a slidesession titled: The Year in Review.Presenter: Doug Upton.• March 2006 Variegation inbromeliads. Please bring along anyvariegated bromeliads you mayhave. Discussion leader: Bob Reilly.If you would like to give a talk/pres-entation in 2006, then the meetingprogramme co-ordinators, OliveTrevor and Bob Reilly, would like tohear from you. Their telephone numbers are:• Olive Trevor (07) 3351 1203,• Bob Reilly (07) 3870 8029.

tive of what decision it makes on the Com-bined Show’s future…”Subsequently, the Cactus and SucculentSociety of Queensland has advised thatthey wish to have their own show in 2006,and subsequently.For 2006, the BSQ will have a show andplant sale on 4th and 5th March at the MtCoot-tha Botanic Gardens, as well as itsSpring show and plant sale in November.For subsequent years, we will try to securea date in April, as this is a better time forrunning such an event. (4/5 March werethe only dates available for 2006).It is unfortunate the Combined Show hascome to an end, given the enjoyment it hasprovided many people over the years.However, the new arrangements providethe best available long-term solution.We wish the Cactus and Succulent Societyof Queensland every success with their2006, and subsequent, shows.

Do you think you might liketo get Involved?

The Society has over 300 members butis faced with the normal problem most as-sociations suffer from and that is a low levelof people getting actively involved in thebackground work involved in running thesociety and helping out during periods ofhigh activity at Association activities.

The Society does get the support frommany of the long term members, howeverthe management committee, with an eyeto the future, wants to get some of thenewer members involved. A little bit of helpcan go a long way at the right time.

If you would to help out, even in a verylimited capacity, contact the any of the peo-ple whose names appear on page two ofthis journal.


BROMELIAD BONANZAProudly Presented by the Bromeliad

Society of Queensland Inc.

To be held at: Mt Coot-tha GardensAuditorium

Saturday 5th November 8AM to 4PMSunday 6th November 9AM to 3 PM

• Spectular displays of bromeliads• Over 500 varieties/hybrids of bromeliads on sale• Refreshments available for purchase• Talks on how to grow bromeliads• Display of bromeliad photographs• Monster bromeliad raffle• Large range of Bromeliad books on sale• Plenty of free parking

Admission: Adults $3.00Children under 14 Free

Public transport: BCC bus 471 fromcity OR great Circle bus 598 or 599from various suburbs

For further information:Ph (07) 3390 2214Mob 0428 157 777

Over 160 people have registered for theconference, making it one of the largest, ifnot the largest, in the history of this event.However, as the venue can accommodatemore people, don’t hesitate to register if youare still deciding whether to come.

Due to popular demand, one day regis-trations are also available for the Saturday,Sunday and Monday of the conference.(They are not available for the Friday, whichis primarily a registration day, along with abus trip). Key points are:

• Cost is $85 per day. This will coverrefreshments (see registration form), lec-tures, and access to the sales area.

• Registration for the banquet and bustrips are separate.

• Please complete a standard registra-tion form, but under the item titled “Con-ference” on the back page, cross out theFull Single/Full Double “rows” and insertthe day(s) on which you would like to at-tend, and the rate ($85/day).

• Mail payments to Conference Regis-trations, PO Box 565 Fortitude Valley, Qld,4006.

All registrations close on 30 September2005 and late registrations unfortunatelycannot be accepted. (This is because weneed to let the Conference Venue knownumbers for lunches, other refreshments,and the banquet). So, to avoid disappoint-ment, book early! We are also looking forlots of helpers to assist with a wide rangeof jobs which need to be done during theConference. If you would like to help,please contact the Conference Convenor,Wayne Lyons (phone (07) 3202 8454, [email protected]).

BROMELIADS XIIICONFERENCE UPDATE

(by Bob Reilly)

CALENDAR OF EVENTS: JULY – SEPTEMBER 2005(compiled by Bob Reilly)

15 September Society general meeting. Venue: Uniting Church Hall 52 Merthyr RdNew Farm.

• Beginners’ class topic: Growing aechmeas. Discussion led by Dorothy Cutcliffe.Commences 7.30pm.

• Main meeting topic: Some neoregelia hybrids. Presenter: Arnold James.• Popular vote: Any genus: species or hybrid.• Plant of the month: Species and gybrids from the following genera; Quesnelia,

Racinaea, Ronnbergia and Steyerbromelia.24 September Plant show and sale presented by the Gold Coast Succulent and Brome-liad Society (Inc). Timings: 10am-3pm. Venue: Southport Community Centre, LawsonStreet, Southport. Admission: $2. More information: phone Pat Ross (President) on(07) 5576 1186.14-17 October Bromeliads XIII Conference, Bardon Conference Centre.20 October Society general meeting. Venue: Uniting Church Hall, 52 Merthyr Road,New Farm.

• Beginners’ class topic: Growing medium sized neoregelias. Discussion led byArnold James. Commences 7.30pm.

• Main meeting topic: Growing nidulariums/canistropsis. Please bring along anyof these plants you may have. Discussion leader: Olive Trevor.

• Mini-Show Class 1: Neoregelia-over 200mm diameter when mature, Class 2:Tillandsia, Class 3: Pitcairnioideae not listed elsewhere in the schedule, Class 4:Any other mature (flowering) bromeliad. Species and hybrids are eligible forentry in all classes.

• Plant of the month: Species and hybrids from the following genera: Tillandsia.5-6 November Society’s Spring show and sale of bromeliads at Mt Coot-tha BotanicGardens. Over 500 varieties/hybrids will be on sale. Saturday (5th) 8am-4pm, Sunday(6th) 9am-3pm. Admission: $3-adults, under 14- free if accompanied by an adult. If youwish to sell bromeliads at this event, please let Nancy Kickbusch know (ph (07) 33001704) by 7 October.17 November Society general meeting. Venue: Uniting Church Hall, 52 MerthyrRoad, New Farm.

• Beginners’ class topic: Growing miniature neoregelias. Discussion led by ArnoldJames. Commences 7.30pm.

• Main meeting topic: A South American trip. Presenter: Greg Aizlewood.• Popular vote: Any genus-species or hybrid.• Plant of the month: Ursulaea, Vriesea, Werauhia, Wittrockia.

8 December Society’s Christmas party. There will be a free barbecue and monsterbromeliad raffle. Join with other Society members in celebrating the festive season.Commences 8pm, at Uniting Church Hall, 52 Merthyr Road, New Farm.

MIDHURST BROMELIAD NURSERY

SPECIALIST GROWERS OF TILLANDSIA SEEDLINGSHard grown to suit All Australian conditions

Wholesale and Mail Order OnlyWrite for a free price list of Tillandsia and other genera to:

MIDHURST BROMELIAD NURSERYP. O. BOX 612 HURSTBRIDGE, 3099

PHONE (03) 9718 2887 FAX (03) 9718 2760EMAIL : [email protected]

M. J. PATERSON212 SANDY CREEK ROAD, GYMPIE, Qld 4570

Large Range of Bromeliads For SaleEspecially our own Hybrid Tillandsias and Neoregelias

DO CALL IN IF YOU ARE UP THIS WAY BUT PLEASE PHONE FIRST

PHONE / FAX (07) 5482 3308EMAIL: [email protected]

PINEGROVE BROMELIADSSpecialising in Neoregelias, Aechmeas, Tillandsias, Vrieseas

Gusmanias, Rare Species and Hybrids

VISITORS WELCOME PHONE (02) 6683 4188 OPEN 7 DAYS

Opportunity to view over 8000 different species and hybrids

SEND LARGE STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE FOR MAIL LIST

JUNE and JOHN BUCHANANP. O. BOX 61 - PINE STREET - WARDELL, NSW, 2477

Len and Olive Trevor232 Canvey Road, Ferny Grove, Qld 4053

Specialising in hybrid Vrieseas, Aechmeas, VariegatedNeoregelias

Skotak Hybrids, Aussie Dream and varieties, and other qualityBromeliads

THE OLIVE BRANCH

FOREST DRIVE NURSERYLocated at REPTON, South of Coffs Harbour, NSW

Tillandsias to Titillate even the most discerning fanciersBeautiful Vrieseas (including Silver species), Guzmanias,

Aechmeas, Neoregelias, etc.

Visitors Welcome, Please Phone First (02) 6655 4130Mail Order List - Send SAE

Peter Tristram, PO Box 55, Repton, NSW, 2454

BRISBANE BROMELIAD CENTRE34 Hauton Road, Morayfield 4506

HUGE SELECTIONof

Aechmeas, Vrieseas, Guzmanias, NeoregeliasNidularium & Tillandsias

together with a variety of rarer species and hydridsBARBARA and LORRAINE

Phone (07) 5433 0303VISITORS by APPOINTMENT

Phone (07) 3351 1203Visitors welcome by appointment - Please Phone First

Specialising in species and varieties from mostly imported stock

BROM-MADLarge range of Bromeliads

Neoregelias & other Varieties, Species and HybridsVisitors Welcome by Appointment

Linda and Graham Percival1 Purcell Road, Bells Bridge, via Gympie. Q.4570

Enquires Phone (07) 5483 1634Web Page http://www.brom-mad.netfirms.com

SHADE HOUSES

Manufacturers of Orchid, Fern and Shade Houses since 1976

Ph: (07) 3207 2793Fax: (07) 3822 2307

151 Railway Pde., Thornside, Q 4158www.petersglen.com.au

BROMAGIC BROMELIAD NURSERY

421 Hunchy Rd, Palmwoods 4555Open to the Public

Wednesday to Saturday 10:00 – 4:30

A wide range of Bromeliads including first release Neoregelia hybrids

Web Site www.ozemail.com.au/~bromagic/On-Site Sales: Bernd Ruta / Kirsty Kennedy 5478 8989

Wholesale: Keith Golinski - 54450441

Neoregelia abendrothii x pauciflora R

S

Date post:	18-Oct-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

XXXXIX no 5 - Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc€¦ · volume xxxix - no. 5 - september/october...

Documents