Growing Alcantarea
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Bromeliaceae VOLUME XLII - No. 3 - MAY/JUNE 2008 The Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc. P. O. Box 565, Fortitude Valley Queensland, Australia 4006, Home Page www.bromsqueensland.com OFFICERS PRESIDENT Olive Trevor (07) 3351 1203 VICE PRESIDENT Anne McBurnie PAST PRESIDENT Bob Reilly (07) 3870 8029 SECRETARY Chris Coulthard TREASURER Glenn Bernoth (07) 4661 3 634 BROMELIACEAE EDITOR Ross Stenhouse SHOW ORGANISER Bob Cross COMMITTEE Greg Aizlewood, Bruce Dunstan, Barry Kable, Arnold James,Viv Duncan, David Rees MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Roy Pugh (07) 3263 5057 SEED BANK CO-ORDINATOR Doug Parkinson (07) 5497 5220 AUDITOR Anna Harris Accounting Services SALES AREA CASHIER Norma Poole FIELD DAY CO-ORDINATOR Ruth Kimber & Bev Mulcahy LIBRARIAN Evelyn Rees ASSISTANT SHOW ORGANISER Phil Beard SUPPER STEWARDS Nev Ryan, Barry Genn PLANT SALES Pat Barlow Phil James COMPETITION STEWARDS Dorothy Cutcliffe, Arnold James CHIEF COMPETITION STEWARD HOSTESS Gwen Parkinson BSQ WEBMASTER Ross Stenhouse LIFE MEMBERS Grace Goode OAM Peter Paroz, Michael O’Dea Editors Email Address: [email protected] The Bromeliad Society of Queensland Inc. gives permission to all Bromeliad Societies to re- print articles in their journals provided proper acknowledgement is given to the original author and the Bromeliaceae, and no contrary direction is published in Bromeliaceae. This permission does not apply to any other 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. Front Cover: Guz. ‘ Rosie ’ Photo by Ross Stenhouse Rear Cover : Guzmania squarrosa Photo by Ross Stenhouse Bromeliaceae 2 May/June 2008 Contents XGUZVRIESEA ‘JEANNIE ’ VERSUS ‘MARIAN O PPENHEIMER ’ ....................................................5 BROMELIADS “BLACKLISTED ” .................................................................................................6 BROMELIADS IN HANGING B ASKETS ........................................................................................9 BROMELIAD LEAF FORMS .....................................................................................................11 MORE UNFAMILIAR G ENERA – L TO N – PLUS 9 BIGENERICS ...............................................13 GROWING ALCANTAREA ........................................................................................................16 THE (VERY ) SMALL VRIESEAS ..............................................................................................18 GROWING LARGE VRIESEAS FROM SEED ..............................................................................20 THE CASE FOR THE TILLANDSIA , AN APPRAISAL ...................................................................22 SOLUTIONS : GROWING CRYPTANTHUS IN THE COLD ..............................................................23 WHY ALCANTAREA ’S LEAN ?! ...............................................................................................24 HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WRITING FOR THIS JOURNAL ? .....................................................26 CALENDAR OF EVENTS ..........................................................................................................26 PLANT OF THE M ONTH PROGRAMME FOR 2008 .....................................................................27 COMPETITION SCHEDULE FOR 2008 ......................................................................................27 Note from the Editor’s Desk This edition is a bit smaller than recent past editions - however fear not, there is a reason. No doubt some of you would have noticed that there is a mismatch between the dates for each issue as published within the journal and the month it actually arrives. This has happened as the result of this being my fourth year and the accumulation of slight slippages over that period that I was unable to make up. My solution has been to produce this cut-down version quickly after the Mar/April 2008 edition to try to get the timing back on course. Important things to remember to do: 5th July - Bromeliad Seminar - 9AM to 4PM, core time 10AM to 3PM, Pamela Koides, the owner of the Birdrock Tropicals Nursery in the United States, has agreed to be the keynote speaker for this event. Bring your own lunch. This event will be great so make sure you don’t miss it. Books For Sale The Society has the following books for sale: • Starting with Bromeliads $18 • Pitcher Plants of the Americas $60 • Bromeliads: A Cultural Manual $5 • Back Copies of Bromeliaceae (2005, 2006 Editions) $4 • Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden by Andrew Steens $36 • Bromeliads: Next Generation by Shane Zaghini $33 Postage and package extra. Unfortunately we cannot supply overseas orders. Please phone the Librarian, Mrs Evelyn Rees (07) 3355 0432 to order books. Bromeliaceae 3 May/June 2008 Photo top left: xGuzvriesea ‘Marian Oppen- heimer taken at the Olive Branch April 2007 by Ross Stenhouse Photo top right : xGuzvriesea ‘Marian Op- penheimer’ taken by Herb Plever Photo middle right: xGuzvriesea ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ taken by Herb Plever Photo bottom right : xGuzvriesea ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ taken at the Olive Branch by Derek Butcher Photo bottom left: xGuzvriesea ‘Jeannie’ photo by Herb Plever Bromeliaceae 4 May/June 2008 http://fcbs.org. xGuzvriesea ‘Jeannie’ 3. Maureen Green in NZ sells ‘Jeaniae’ which suggests she got her plant years ago versus ‘Marian from Pineapple Place but we do not know what it looks like. However, it is described Oppenheimer’ as having green leaves which suggests it is by Derek Butcher May 2008. ‘Marian Oppenheimer’. I have a gut feeling that the only dif- This all started with Ebay and Ian ference will be that ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ Hook’s eagle eye to note that the ‘Jeanie’ has a clear compound inflorescence whereas (spelling on Ebay) offered did not link to the ‘Jeannie’ is either simple or only slightly description in the Cultivar Register. While compound with the stated reddish leaves. Ian and Geoff Lawn checked the available As with this sort of ancient problem I literature I checked old catalogues. We found usually ask the Venerable Bede of American out that those who are growing plants called hybrids –Herb Plever of New York. Here ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ and ‘Jeanie’ in north- I struck pay dirt. This is what Herb had to ern NSW and Queensland say they are the say: same, but were they correct! “Hi Derek It is shown as Guzvriesea ‘ jeannieae’ I have lots of photos of xGuzvriesea in International Checklist of Bromeliad Hy- ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ taken at various times brids 1979. It was changed to xGuzvriesea and places; the attached photos are all of Herb ‘Jeannie’ in the Bromeliad Cultivar Register Hill’s plants. The full plant was shot at the 1998. No one seems to know when it was Corpus Christi WBC in 1982, the closeup of changed from dog Latin to English. the inflorescence labelled No. 2 was taken at 1. Pineapple Place catalogue in 1983 Herb’s exhibit at the Houston WBC in 1990. offered ‘Jeannieae’, in 1997 offered ‘Jeaniae’ The other close-up of the inflorescence of and ‘Marion’ (Their spelling!) From this I concluded there must be some difference, however slight, between the two. I have gut feeling that the yellow inflorescence in the description in the Cultivar Register means yellow petals! 2. Michael’s Bromeliads catalogue Suppliers of fine in Florida still shows ‘Marian’ ! This was tissue-cultured bromeliads the name used by Olive Trevor when I took the photo at her place in 2000, and now on [email protected] Bromeliaceae www.plantbiotech.com.au Production Crew Phone (07) 5471 6036 Editor: Ross Stenhouse Postal Address: 7 Thougla Place, Proofreader, Custom Badge Collector Buderim QLD 4556 and distribution manager: Roy Pugh Lab: 99 West Coolum Road, Regular Contributors : Derek Butcher, Mount Coolum QLD 4573 Rob Smythe, Rob Reilly, Peter Paroz Bromeliaceae 5 May/June 2008 ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ labeled inflorescence swapped in Quarantine when the true was taken in Herb’s greenhouse in Feb. 1991. ‘Jeannie’ died? We will never know but it It has more elongated spikes than No. 2. does seem that ‘Jeannie’ – whichever way As for xGuzvriesea ‘Jeannie’, the only you spell it – is not in Australia and that it photo I have of that plant was taken in March, should be called by its full name ‘Marian 1978, but I regret that I have neither memory Oppenheimer’. nor notes of where it was taken or whose plant it was. The attached photo shows a very dif- ferent plant than ‘Marian Oppenheimer’. ‘Jeannie’ and ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ Bromeliads do NOT have the same parents. Beadle in the “Blacklisted” 1998 Register lists the parentage of ‘Jeannie’ (by Geoff Lawn) as G. lingulata x V. ‘Rex’. Herb Hill gave me the parentage of ‘Marian Oppenheimer’ as V. ‘Viminalis Rex’ x G. lingulata var. minor (in Reprinted, with permission, from the that order, from which I always supposed that Journal of the Bromeliad Society, 1989, v. ‘Viminalis Rex was the seed parent). 39 (5), pp 214-216). V. ‘Rex’ is very different from V. No foliage bromeliad is truly devoid of ‘Viminalis Rex’. Beadle lists ‘Rex’s parents, colour, or black, but some come close since but says the parents of ‘Viminalis Rex’ are they have predominant or solid shades of unknown. In any event Beadle’s description indigo, mahogany, and aubergine purple, to of the two plants leaves no doubt they are deepest