SEMBS SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN BROMELIAD SOCIETY AFFILITE OF BROMELIAD SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL JULY / AUGUST 2014 Neoregelia 'Blast Off', from Rafael Oliveira, Brazil, parentage unknown, registered 6/2012 by Eloise Beach. July Meeting Barbecue at Lynne and Pat Echlin's ! 1420 W. Avon Circle, Rochester Hills, MI 48309 Saturday, July 19 at 2p.m. Hamburgers, hot dogs and soda provided. Please email Lynne : [email protected] or telephone: 248-651-9521 to let her know how many you are and what you'll bring along to the party. Guests very welcome! August Meeting Our society has not routinely held meetings during August in recent years, typically reserving it as a “vacation” month. The reality is that August is perhaps the finest month of the year to enjoy bromeliads in our climate, and we ought to take advantage! With that in mind, we will have a meeting on Saturday, August 16, at 2 PM . The meeting will be hosted at the home of Paul and Karen Wingert. The address is 27276 Edgemoor, Farmington Hills, MI 48334. During the meeting this past May, it was suggested that a meeting be dedicated to the process of hybridizing bromeliads. So with a nod towards Andy and Mallory, that will be the featured topic for the meeting. Paul will give a detailed presentation- beginning with the process of selecting parents, the actual procedure of pollination, tagging flowers, harvesting and planting the seeds, stages of transplanting, and then the fun part- deciding what plants to choose for further evaluation and possible registration in the BSI Cultivar Registry and giving the plant a name! Also to be discussed will be details of all the obstacles to hybridizing. For instance, not having suitable plants in bloom at the same time, excessive laziness on a day when two of more fine candidates are in bloom, pollinating at the wrong time of day, dealing with plants that are known self-pollinators, plants that have flowers which yield no pollen, losing tags or having them removed by various forms of wildlife, losing ripe berries to hungry birds, sowing seeds in unsuitable growing media, and more! Paul guarantees that there are plenty of plants currently in need of evaluation! We’ll spend some time discussing various criteria that make some plants highly appealing, while others may be destined for the compost heap. Determining beauty is highly subjective, so it will be interesting to see how various opinions compare! As a reminder, members are encouraged to bring plants for “Show and Tell”. Billbergia Hallelujah x Sangre Neoregelia ampullacea x carolinae ('Puerto Rico' Aechmea Bert x orlandiana x 'Sunscorch') Neoregelia 'Ed Prince' x 'Blushing Neoregelia 'Punctate Red' x Neoreegelia 'Wee Willy' x 'Blushing Tiger' 'Blushing Tiger' Tiger ' Inge Alger's Anguish (August 15, 2013) If anybody knows me well, they know I love my Tillandsias! So, why write about Tillandsias? Because I have had something/someone eat at my Tillandsias outside for the summer! Who? What? Everybody would say my cats are the culprits!! yes! Inside in winter, sure! My cats nibble - or try! However, I put Tillandsias in south windows with lots of light and access to cats blocked by large Bromeliads. Little damage! My cats are totally indoor cats, of course! So, why damage outdoors after 3 months outside? That's my question! What, all of a sudden, would nibble at my precious Tillandsias? I live at the outskirts of a swamp and woods with critters like woodchucks, possums, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, insects, and coyotes!!! What would/could possible all of a sudden get into my Tillandsias? I've become an investigator together with watching my cats as very alert to outside activity! Slugs? I saw one. Could slugs eat Tillandsias? I need help with this! I have a major in biology and should be able to solve this "mystery" on my own! But I'm at my wit's end! What is eating my Tillandsias? I call them thieves, robbers, invaders, and other words not proper for this write-up! They basically eat outer ends of fat Tillandsia leaves. They don't seem to go for Strictas and Ionanthas. They go for the succulent "salad bar"! But what/whoever is doing this should be reported and pursued for crime committed! My Tillandsias are hung on a metal plant stand not that accessible to most critters. The burglar(s) must be able to climb any plant stand. Most critters would slide off this metal plant stand. But slugs? Slimy critters clinging to anything? Could they be the thieves? I want them brought to justice!!! If anybody has similar problems, I'd like to hear from you to possibly solve this, to me, momentous problem! I love my Tillandsias and want to save them! If anybody has ideas, please let me know! Inge Alger Editor: One thing is certain: it wasn't the evil weevil. Did you ever find out who the culprit is? We wish you better luck this year! OUR PLANT FAMILY Bromeliaceae by Herb Plever (reprinted from Bromeliana, May 2013, XXX No.3) (continued from SEMBS May/June 2014) Bromeliad Subfamilies and Their Genera BROCCHINIOIDEAE Brocchinia – 20 LINDMANIOIDEAE Connellia - 6 Lindmania – 9 HECHTIOIDEAE Hechtia – 62 NAVIOIDEAE (5 genera) Brewcaria - 6 Cottendorfia - 1 Navia -93 Sequencia - 1 Steyerbromelia – 6 PITCAIRNIOIDEAE (6 genera) Deuterocohnia -18 Dyckia -147 Encholirium - 28 Fosterella - 31 Pepinia -57 Pitcairnia -342 PUYOIDEAE Puya – 218 TILLANDSIOIDEAE (9 genera) Alcantarea -32 Catopsis - 18 Glomeropitcairnia -2 Guzmania - 211 Mezobromelia – 9 Racinaea -74 Tillandsia - 622 Vriesea - 281 Werauhia – 88 BROMELIOIDEAE (35 genera) Acanthostachys - 2 Aechmea - 276 Ananas - 7 Androlepis -2 Araeococcus - 9 Billbergia - 63 Bromelia - 60 Canistropsis - 11 Canistrum - 13 Cryptanthus – 72 Deincanthon – 1 Disteganthus - 2 Edmundoa - 3 Eduandrea - 1 Fascicularia - 1 Fernseea -2 Greigia – 36 Hohenbergia - 65 Hohenbergiopsis - 1 xHohenmea – 1 Laptanthus - 2 Lymania - 9 Neoglaziovia - 3 Neoregelia - 120 Nidularium - 47 xNiduregelia - 3 Ochagavia - 4 Orthophytum - 68 Portea - 9 Pseudoaechmea - 1 Pseudoananas - 1 Quesnelia - 23 Ronnbergia - 14 Ursulaea - 2 Wittrockia - 6.