Bromelcairns Bimonthly Newsletter of Cairns Bromeliad Societ Inc. 2012 # 2 P.O. Box 28 Cairns Queensland 4870 Austalia

President Dave Weston 0740578604 V-President Karen Stevens 0740361086 Secretary Lynn Hudson 0740533913 Treasurer Frances Boyd 0740552550 Librarian Maria Grant 0740370161 Editor Lynn Hudson 0740533913 Editor Assist. Moyneen Charlton 0740337390 Member Concierge Nalda Wilson 0740544825 Popular Vote Steward Karen Cross 0740545497 OIC Raffles Lesley Hepburn 0488788892 Honorary Life Member - Grace Goode O.A.M. Honorary Life Member - Kay Edington Life Member - Lynn Hudson Life Member - Robert (Bob) Hudson ******************************************************************** Aims of the Society Promote and Develop Interest in Bromeliads through Friendship To Co-operate with similar Clubs throughout the World ******************************************************************** Membership Fee: $15 Single, $25 Family, Country Member $25. $7.50 junior (if not in family membership) Meetings start at 1.pm sharp first Saturday of the month. Please bring a cup and a chair.

Library: All books & magazines borrowed are to be returned in good order to the following meeting. If not on wait list, they may be rebooked. Plant Display/Sales: To participate, a member must be financial and circumstances permitting, have attended at least three meetings in the past six months. Where the society is charged a stall fee - 20% of sales are deducted for club funds. No charge venue & meetings - 10% of sales is deducted. All plants to be clean, free of disease, named and price tagged. Show Plants: Must be the property of and in the custody of the entrant for the past three months. For Society Shows the entrant must be financial and have attended at least three meetings during the past six months. Pens, Plant Tags & Pots: available at each meeting. If reprinting article, wholly or in part, please acknowledge Author & Newsletter. Any article &/or Bromelcairns will be Emailed on request to [email protected] [email protected] Club Actvites & Around te Members MARCH: From Moyneen. Our meeting was hosted by Barry Osborne at Woodward Retirement Village. Thank you for a very pleasant comfortable air conditioned venue where the main view is the pond, bridge and pretty water lillies, a striking feature of this garden. They are beautifully presented, very well kept and a pleasure to wander around. A stroll further up the path leads to a nice display of colourful bromeliads growing in dappled shade under trees. Bromeliads are tucked in all through the gardens - numbers seemed to have increased since our last visit. Again this month a very good range of plants where bought in by members for show and judging. As always new, interesting and well grown plants amazed some of us. Thanks for bringing them in. Maria, our Librarian, encouraged us to make full use of our library resources, this month’s feature was journals from other societies. Each month I plan to showcase two members to share with us something of themselves, how they came to join the society, their favorite plant and experiences. First is Karen Cross on page 5. (Until next time, happy growing, Moyneen) MINI SHOW – Flowering Bromeliad 1st. Tillandsia cyanea – Brendan Leishman 2nd Tillandsia ‘Silver Queen’ – Bob Hudson 3rd Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ – Gloria Wegner Foliage Bromeliad st 1 . XNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’ – Brendan Leishman nd 2 .Neoregelia ‘Kahala Dawn’ – Karen Cross Tillandsia cyanea 3rd. Tillandsia ‘Rio Hondo’ – Bob Hudson POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE - Bromeliad: 1st. Neoregelia ‘Burnsies Spiral’ – Paul Venturi 2nd. Neoregelia ‘Vulkan’ - Kath Radloff 3rd. Neoregelia ‘Dr Carl’ - June McGlew Cryptanthus: Cryptanthus ‘Glad’ – Paul Venturi Tillandsia: Tillandsia lieboldiana – June McGlew OPEN - Bromeliad Tillandsia ʻSilver Queenʼ 1st. XNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’ – Brendan Leishman 2nd. Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ – Gloria Wegner 2nd. Neoregelia ‘Kahala Dawn’ – Karen Cross Cryptanthus 1st Cryptanthus ‘Elaine’ – Karen Stevens nd 2 .Cryptanthus ‘Starlite’ – Gail Taifalos Cryptanthus ʻGladʼ 3rd. Cryptanthus ‘Marion Oppenheimer’ – Beryl WWatson Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia cyanea – Brendan Leishman 2nd Tillandsia ‘Silver Queen’ – Bob Hudson 3rd.Tillandsia ehlersiana – Gail Taifalos Cryptanthus ʻElaineʼ ORTHOPHYTUM March meeting - A brief overview of the Orthophytum genus by DAVE WESTON DISTRIBUTION of orthophytum taxa in Brazil

______2 taxa

______approx 26 taxa ______approx 21 taxa

______approx 11 taxa

Ortho. ‘Starlights’ terminal offsets. ! HABITAT AND ECOLOGY Orthophytum are terrestrial and predominantly rupicolous (growing on or amongst rocks), commonly they are found on the quartzite and sandstone outcrops of inselbergs and Campos Rupestres (a shrubby vegetation formation of rocky montane savannah). Many species are heliophiles, (growing in full sun) and often at high altitudes. As Orthophytum are found in harsh stony habitats one might assume that they have characteristics in common with more epiphytic Bromeliad genera such as Aechmea and Neoregelia however Orthophytum have a well developed fibrous root system and are essentially obligate terrestrials taking up most of their nutrients and water from the soil substrate. In habitat these species tend to establish themselves in rock crevasses' where their roots can access the humus and moisture which is directed into these repositories from off the surrounding rocks. Orthophytum are often found growing in association with other bromeliads, orchids, bryophytes and lichens on exposed rocky outcrops where their roots can take advantage of the moisture and nutrient resource within the stabilised layer of peat and humus which accumulates over time. ! ORTHOPHYTUM MORPHOLOGY Orthophytum are particularly variable with growth form, generally the foliage tends to be more succulent than most other bromeliad genera, prominent spines along the margins of the leaves are a characteristic feature. There is considerable variation even within species, such as Ortho. disjunctum which has forms with a dense cover of white trichomes ranging through to grabrous forms with smooth glossy foliage which can vary from a reddish colour to a dark green. Populations can have uniform leaf colour or in some regions a population may have plants side by side with a varied colour gradient. 4 The genera Orthophytum is divided arbitrarily into two main complexes. These two complexes are determined on the basis of inflorescence structure - (A) The sessile inflorescence complex & (B) The scapose infloresence complex (A) The sessile (stemless) inflorescence includes species such as Orthophytum burle-marxii & Orthophytum heleniceae

The principal characteristic of the sessile infloresence group is that these species produce their flowers in the centre of the leaf rosette similar to that of Neoregelia, however unlike Neoregelia the foliage does form a tank. The exception here are the caulescent species of the “subcomplex vagans” such as O. vagans and O. zanonii. These species are characterized by long foliated stems and produce their flowers in the axis of the terminal leaves. v Caulescent Orthophytum vagans (variegated)

(B) The Scapose (stem) Inflorescence Scapose Orthophytum gurkenii Within this complex is the “sub-complex disjunctum” which form a distinct rosette of leaves prior to development of the inflorescense scape. This includes species like Orthophytums disjunctum, glabrum, rubrum, gurkenii and in comparison, the relatively dwarf species with short scape inflorescences as in Ortho. saxicola. To add further complication under the scapose infloresence complex is another group; “sub-complex leprosum” that do not develop a rosette and the leaves are not clearly distinguishable from the scape bracts as in Orthophytum benzingii.

< Orthophytum benzingii.

> Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ offsets developing on the floral bracts.

5 ! REPRODUCTION and PROPAGATION Seed. All orthophytum species are capable of producing viable seed. However unless the grower is seeking a new form or variation there is little advantage in using seed as the resulting plants can be quite variable and slow to produce. Vegetative propagation. All orthophytum will reproduce vegetatively either by offsets produced basally or on stolons. In the case of some of the scapose complex by offsets produced at the terminal point of the individual flower flower spikes on the scape. ! CULTIVATION REQUIREMENTS Orthophytum are well suited to either container or garden cultivation. They require bright light and good air circulation. Some can tolerate full sun exposure given adequate depth of soil and moisture. Soil media should be well drained but rich in organic matter. !! PESTS and DISORDERS Orthophytum have very few pest issues, the main one being Mealy Bug. Root rot may occur with soil media that is not free draining. Leaf rot can occur when water stays on the leaf surface for an extended period. Avoid watering in the evening and provide good air circulation. ! GARDEN and LANDSCAPE The sessile complex of orthophytum are best suited as container plants as they are often slow to reproduce and can become lost in a garden situation. The scapeose complex are well suited to garden and landscape applications as they will establish quickly and often naturalise in the garden. These also make great potted plant specimens as they go through their various growth stages. ###############################################

Member Showcase - Karen Cross by Moyneen Karen's starting point was more than 13 years ago, around '98 or '99. She was moving to a new house with well established palms trees, and found the ground quite dense with roots and started looking for solutions. She noticed a plant tied to a palm, made inquiries and as they say ‘the rest is history’. Karen's plant collecting continued, a shade house was built, eventually she found she was running out of room, quite an achievement when you find out she lives on a double block ! Some highlights of this time include assisting with plant judging at meetings, displaying plants (and winning awards) at the Cairns Show and opening her garden to club members and also members of the 18th. World Bromeliad Conference in 2008. For events such as this Karen rallies her whole family to help with the huge task. In recent times she finds herself time poor with her job and new grandchild being a focus for her. Karen admits she has let her obsession get away from her, she feels she needs to move some plants on to allow her to focus more on a treasured few.

6 Club Actvites & Around te Members APRIL meeting was held at Darryl’s at Babinda and members travelled together in car pools. Not one of Cairns best days weather wise, it rained all the way to Babinda, but then cleared up for the meeting! It was a surprising attendance all things considered, with the long trip and the rain but Darryl has always said it is always raining in Babinda. It was a happy meeting. Darryl's garden is in excellent condition, a lot of work has been carried out, lots of great quality plants well displayed, quite a credit to get it to this standard after the troubles encountered in the last cyclone. Thanks to Darryl for hosting the meeting and thanks to Paulita for the yummy sticky rice - I certainly enjoyed it. (Moyneen) * New Member - welcome to Jo Nutter, we know you will enjoy your new plants and ignore us for calling you “nutter” as you are already used to it! *Members carried an excellent range of plants to the meeting, I was really pleased to see the great range of quality plants all the way down there, well done. MINI SHOW – Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia ehlersiana – Marguerite Sexton 2nd Tillandsia tectorum – Bob Hudson 3rd Tillandsia ‘Phoenix’ – Dave Weston Flowering Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia duratii var. saxatilis – Bob Hudson 2nd Tillandsia ionantha – Marguerite Sexton 3rd Tillandsia cyanea – Brendan Leishman POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE - Bromeliad: Nil entries Cryptanthus: Nil entries Tillandsia: Tillandsia ‘Corella’ – Paul Venturi OPEN - Bromeliad 1st. Pitcairnia smithiorum – Darryl Lister 2nd. Neoregelia ‘Dream Baby’ – Brendan Leishman 3rd Fosterella rusbyi – Brendan Leishman 3rd Dyckia ‘Betty Farnhill’- Dave Weston Cryptanthus st 1 Cryptanthus ‘Anne Collings’ - Lynn Hudson 2nd.Cryptanthus ‘Arctic Storm’- Dave Weston 3rd. Cryptanthus ‘Elaine’ – Karen Stevens 3rd Cryptanthus fosteriana hybrid - Darryl Lister Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia ‘Roma’ – Karen Stevens 2nd Tillandsia ‘Fuego’ – Marguerite Sexton 3rd.Tillandsia ehlersiana – Marguerite Sexton 3rd.Tillandsia tectorum - Bob Hudson

7 The Beautiful Plants you showed us * Neoregelia ‘Burnsies Spiral’ entered by Paul. It drew much interest as many members previously had not seen one. A small narrow leafed variegated plant in green pink and white It is a sport from carolinae and continues to grow on a long stolon. Offsets form along the stolen. * Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ was a pot full of colour. Gloria had allowed her original plant to take over and the offsets had matured and were in flower. The colour contrast between the faun and green is magic. * XNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’ – again Brendan teased us with a huge healthy brightly coloured plant, the leaves arched proudly. *Neoregelia ‘Kahala Dawn’ grown by Karen C. was dark and vibrant. Other variegated bromeliads have popular and it was great to be reminded of this beauty. *Pitcairnia smithiorum from Darryl’s garden had bright lime green leaves, contrasted by the orange cone shaped inflorescences. As pitcairnias grow in swampy areas they like to have wet feet. The leaves are soft and grasslike and it is not easy to keep them perfect. We have had an abundance of tillandsias at the past few meetings - well grown too. * Tillandsia ‘Rio Hondo’ Bob was very proud of his 45cm caulescent pink plant. He also showed capitata ‘Peach’, telling us they had been confused - the differences are very obvious when compared together. * Tillandsia cyanea. Brendan entered this pot of multiple plants , some in flower. It was a picture and very popular with members. The purple flowers exuded the spicy aroma and the paddles were very pink. We wondered if it were ‘Paradise’. * Tillandsia ehlersiana grown by Marguerite was like a happy, fat and squat triffid. * Tillandsia tectorum from Bob was white and fluffy, a perfect example of the trichomed plants that we need to ‘control water’ - if they stay wet they cannot photosynthesize and will choke - sacriledge! * Tillandsia ‘Roma’ grown by our Vice President Karen S. with seven bright red spikes and stiff grey leaves was very popular. > > * Tillandsia ‘Fuego’ a clump grown by Marguerite had very bright red tops, looking like they were on fire. * Tillandsia dura small form shown by Nalda with leaves only 6cm long was a little gem. It was in flower and fascinatingly miniature. * Tillandsia ‘Silver Queen’ - Bob counted himself lucky to get it from the green house of the hybridizer John Arden in California. A hybrid between xerographica and jalisco-monticola with 60 cm long leaves, red and yellow inflorescence and mauve flowers.

8 My trip to Brisbane for the Tillandsia Day (part 2) by Bob Hudson

Our next visit was to Neville Ryan’s where his huge collection has taken up every inch of space and he has even cribbed part of the clothesline! Neville has a wonderful collection especially of the smaller species.

Beautiful healthy tectorums Flowering kautskyi On Saturday we went to Caboolture to see George Stamatis who is now a school teacher. He is a workaholic and is more a bromeliad than tillandsia grower, but still has a great collection of them. The shade house is really huge about 40mx60m and George is currently making quite a lot of hybrids of all different genera and it will be great to see the outcome of them.

Seedlings sprouting in trays - the beginning of new plants. Alcantarea ‘Lynnie’, on the way to be huge and beautiful. Next page is flowering ‘Lynnie’ and George wrestling with her!! 9

Growing up and up and up and up, and then flowering.

!!Biiiig stretch, George xVrieslandsia ‘Arden’s Fireworks’ a beautiful hybrid by John Arden of Vriesea ‘Sundance’ x Tillandsia australis

We will have to get George to Cairns to talk about Acantareas and show us pictures! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ‘Bromelcairns’ in colour and back issues on the website has been well received. Gail wrote me this, which covers what most members said .. “Doesn't it look fantastic in colour. Yes I would love to get it via email in colour but also the black & white printed copy. I always love coming home from the meetings with Bromelcairns, sitting down in a comfy chair, with a cup of tea and reading it from cover to cover. It is not the same sitting at my computer desk. Although my son is giving me his ipad when he updates so then I will be able to read it in my comfy chair & in colour. I can save all the colour editions onto my computer and it is a quick way of going back to check different things for reference.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, Then doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, Musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, Tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed? 10

Wotʼs Bob got now??

From Karen Stevens: At April meeting Bob spoke on Tillandsia ‘Sumo’ (a giant ‘Druid’) everyone was taken with the yellow colouring as it was flowering - two plants for sale were not enough to go around! He also skited about his Tillandsia duratii v duratii and showed how the end of the leaves grab hold and curl around almost anything. Next was Tillandsia complanata and it is the only tillandsia that does not die after it flowers. It looks like a small vriesea with small dark pink paddles on the end of sticks that wave in any slight breeze. It is very hard to set seed, needing a second plant. Bob also showed members coconut fibre mats that are excellent for seed raising. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Member Showcase - Frances Boyd by Moyneen Frances joined the society in 2009 to learn more about growing bromeliads. She had patches in her garden and needed something hardy and colorful and she wanted to meet like minded people.(I know this reads as if the people are hardy and colorful - I guess they are too!) Her first plants were Neoregelias ‘Gold Fever’ and ‘Scandal’. Frances' focus in now aechmeas and cryptanthus. Some highlights of her time in the society include winning the Grace Goode Silver Ingot Trophy last year, a year as Librarian and this year as Treasurer. Her favorite plants are Aechmea fosteriana and Quesnelia ‘Tim Plowman’. Her most desired, but only seen in a picture, is Aechmea skotakii.

Show & Tell from Maria, our Librarian Maria showed our new Library Book “World of Tillandsias” by Jan Maruska. Jan is a Czechoslovakian. Maria said it has wonderful pictures but has limited tillandsia growth information. It has many images of not commonly seen species.

11

FIVE RULES TO REMEMBER IN 2012: 1. Money cannot buy happiness but it's more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes than on a bicycle. 2. Forgive your enemy but remember the buggar's name. 3. Help someone when they are in trouble and they will remember you when they're in trouble again. 4. Many people are alive only because it's illegal to shoot them. 5. Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then again, neither does milk. ********************************************************************************************** TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU'LL EVER BE, SO ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS. ************************************************************************************ Puns - brain punishment! When chemists die, they barium. Jokes about German sausage are the wurst. I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. However, he says he can stop any time. How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me. This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore. I'm reading a book about anti-gravity and I just can't put it down. I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words. They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Type-O. PMS jokes aren't funny, period. Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations. We're going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there's no pop quiz. I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me. Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils? When you get a bladder infection urine trouble. Broken pencils are pointless. I tried to catch some fog, but I mist. What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus. England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool. I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest. I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx. All the toilets in Adelaide's police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on. I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough. Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes. Velcro is a rip off ! A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy. Venison for dinner again? Oh deer! ************************************************************************************ Nothing just happens or just gets done, Someone has to make it happen or do it.

Megan & John Welch * FERtLIZERS * FUNGICIDES * WATERING SYSTEMS * POLYPIPES * POLY FILMS * * SPRAYING EQUIPMENT * SHADECLOTH * PLANTER BAGS * PLASTIC POTS * Cnr. Brown & Little Spence Sts. Cairns Phone: 07 4035 2670 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hudson ’s Bromeliads Down Under Bromeliads & Tilandsias Bob & Lynn Hudson ABN 66 951 932 976 47 Boden St. Edge Hill Cairns Phone: (07) 40533 913 email: [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20th. WBC Sept 24 - October 1, 2012 Caribe Royal Hotel, Orlando, Florida Registration Fee (in United States Dollars) $US 160 on or before February 28, 2012 $US 175 paid between March 1, 2012 and August 24, 2012, then $US 200 Remit Registration & Payment to: Dan Kinnard, BSI Membership Secretary 6901 Kellyn Lane, Vista CA 92084-1243, USA or on line at bsi.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cairns Lovebirds - bred by Karen Stvens 6 Alabama Street, Whiterock, Qld 4868 Phone 0419021302 [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Collins Ave Flowers offer unique, individual and beautifully crafted flower arrangements; fragrant Italian soaps; scented candles; hand blown & designer double glazed vases and Clifton umbrellas. A fantastic range of pots, plants, baskets & hampers. Fully stocked at Shop 2, 138 Collins Ave, Edge Hill Qld. 4870. Drop in, say Gooday. Christopher Thompson & Joe Palcak Ph (07) 4032 0697 info@collinsaveflowers.com.au ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Bromeliad Cultvaton Nots” by Lynn Hudson A little ‘how to’ book. Cultivation made easy. Basics in language anyone can follow.

“Bromeliads Under te Mango Tree” by John Catlan A ‘must have’ book to help you think and grow your bromeliads better. Both available in bulk at reduced price. Contact Lynn on 07 40533913 or [email protected] or [email protected]