Let us now look at 'Blooming Bromeliads' by Baensch 1994 page 65. This is what Baensch had to say.
"Aechmea serrata. This is a large bromeliad resembling A. smithiorum as far as the habit is concerned. However, the inflorescence is far more compact. The possibility remains that this plant is in fact a variety or form of A. smithiorum and is incorrectly referred to as A. serrata in the collections. According to the monograph by Smith & Downs, A. serrata has, as its name indicates, serrated instead of entire primary bracts"
To me this is an odd statement. I would have put the name as Aechmea smithiorum with the comment it was in collections wrongly as Aechmea serrata!! To qualify for the name A. serrata you would assume that some part of the plant must have teeth.
Aechmea serrata came into being through Mez in 1896 although it had been known under the name 'serrata' since 1703. I now quote from Smith & Downs
Aechmea serrata (Linnaeus) Mez, DC. Monogr. Phan. 9: 243.1896.
Synonyms: Caraguata clavata et spicata, foliis serratis Plumier, Gen. 10. 1703.
Tillandsia serrata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 286. 1753.
Caraguata serrata (Linnaeus) Schultes filius in Roemer & Schultes, Syst. 7(2): 1231. 1830.
Platystachys plumieri Beer, Bromel. 9. 1856; nomen illegitimum.
Aechmea martinicensis Baker, Jour. Bot. London 17: 132. 1879. Type. Martinique, Hahn 522 (K), Dec 1871.
Aechmea plumieri E. Morren ex Baker, Handb. Bromel. 45. 1889; nomen, non Aechmea plumieri Baker, Handb. Bromel. 50. 1889.
The Type is based on Plumier's unpublished plate which is the one reproduced in Smith & Downs p1902, AND on the second line I read 'Caraguata clavata et spicata, foliis serratis' So, in this taxon the leaves are serrate too!
The serrate primary bracts also come into the equation with Aechmea martinicensis where Baker 1889 stresses the serrate primary bracts to distinguish between it and Aechmea dichlamydea! Aechmea smithiorum did not come on the scene until 1896.
Let us now look at Aechmea plumieri Morren, which was treated by Baker 1889 as a synonym of Aechmea lingulata but treated in Smith & Downs as a synonym of Aechmea serrata. If you really want to muddy the water Baker 1889 also had a Caraguata serrata Hort which must have been different to the synonym in Smith & Downs because it became Nidularium scheremetiewii!
What I am trying say is that we should at least follow Smith & Downs unless we can prove Lyman Smith wrong. Further proof that there was a plant growing on Martinique which was greatly different to the woolly non toothed primary bracted A. smithiorum we only have to read what was said in Paris in 1907. This is as follows:
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Aechmea serrata - by D Bois in Revue Horticole ( Paris) 79(7): 129-31. 1907
Translated by Derek Butcher from the French.
This species is classified by Mez under Platyaechmea. It was found in Antilles, and P. Plumier was the first to make it known as Bromelia ramosa et racemosa, foliis arundinaceis serratis. (Plantarum americanarum, p. 53, pl. 64) (1755-1760).
A more complete description and a more exact illustration was given by Lamarck; but it is only in these last years that it was the subject of a deeper survey by Mez.
The herbarium of the Museum of Paris owned collected material from Martinique by Messrs Belanger and Hahn; and P. Duss indicates it grows on the trees in the lower woods, and also in the forests, close to the sea, in Guadeloupe and Martinique, between 25 and 600 metres altitude.
The plant was cultivated for a long time in the greenhouses of the Museum and also exist in the garden of Luxemburg; but we don't believe that one can find it in the living plant collections other than those two establishments, nor has its flowering ever been seen.
This species is so rare having just bloomed in the greenhouses of the Museum, that we are happy to contribute a description from life, with accompanying photographs and drawings executed according to nature.
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Plant short stemmed, with offsets.
Leaves in a rosette utriculum, to 16, from 50 to 60 cm long, very wide and enveloping in their bottom part, at a height of about 10cm forming a gutter with parallel sides , acuminate with a spiny tip. The leaves, more or less recurved, 4 cm wide at the middle ; their edges with small reddish green teeth, very close together, hooked with a wide base; finely lined on both sides, pale green and lightly covered with whitish lepidote, especially underneath; the sheath is brownish on the inside.
Scape thick, cylindrical, 30cm high, erect, green, enveloped by the sheaths of the scape bracts, erect, imbricate and the higher ones especially are shorter; scape bracts tooth edged like the leaves, and those next to the inflorescence are a very pale green.
Inflorescence compact, ovoid panicle, one could nearly say a spike, on account of the reduction of the secondary branches. 10cm long and thick, and hardly exceeds the height of the leaves. It is composed of distichous complanate spikes with very short peduncles, 4 - 5 cm long, generally 3 flowered
Primary bract large leaflike, pale green, strongly spined on the edges and terminated with a pointy brownish spine, especially larger when situated closer to the bottom part of inflorescence. Those at the base longer than the spike, 5 cm long or 2 ½ times longer.
Floral bracts 15 - 20mm long; long-oval, concave- keeled, strictly imbricate, greenish, rigid, membranous on the edges, streaky veined, with a prominent line on the back in the shape of wing and terminating in a brownish spiny tip. Each envelope the flower to the tip of the sepals.
Sepals asymmetric, thick, greenish white, 12 mm long, strongly imbricate, convolute, top blunt with a brown long acicular point. Petals purple, 15 mm long, narrow claw and a widened top in an oval blade.
Stamens a little shorter than the petals, anthers pure white, 6 mm long.
Ovary glabrous, ellipsoid
Style and stigma as with other species of Aechmea
If Aechmea serrata cannot be classed as the most ornamental Bromeliad, it is an interesting species, remarkable for the beauty of its foliage and specially for the greatly spiny toothed leafy bracts that come with inflorescence.
We must thank Mr. Labroy, Head Gardener of the greenhouses of the Museum, for having induced it to flower. It took place last January 20 after the application of special attention, such as reduction of the waterings during the period of vegetation rest, then repotting in very fertile compost, composed of a third of good earth of heather to two thirds of leaf compost, and placing in a hot and humid environment.
Plants in Australia with this name seem to be linked to Florida and the same link seems to apply to plants being grown in Costa Rica and Brazil. I feel sure that the plant in Baensch's book can also be linked to 'collections' on mainland USA as the photograph of Wally Berg's plant shows. Note that this plant was being sold in Florida by at least Boggy Creek Nursery.
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These plants could well have supplied the seed for the BSI seed bank in 1989 and Peter Franklin in Australia has an offset of what is grown in Florida as Aechmea serrata and seedlings from self-set seed for this same misidentified taxon. We also know that seed offered as Aechmea serrata from the BSI seed in Oct 1990 was even more suspect because this was the origin of the cultivar Aechmea 'Que Sera'. So unless you have some form of provenance the name of Aechmea serrata on the label may well be suspect!
Aechmea serrata is probably on the endangered list because of the work of the French botanist, Claude Sastre who has given me detail on this elusive plant. It does appear to be under cultivation in Europe both in France and Belgium. There is also a large clump growing in the Jardin de Balata in Martinique but does NOT set seed.
If anybody thinks they are growing the 'true' Aechmea serrata would they please advise Selby Gardens so it can be properly identified and a program started for its conservation."
Literature cited
Baensch U & U. 1994. Blooming Bromeliads page 65 Nassau/Bahamas
Bois D. 1907. Revue Horticole ( Paris) 79(7): 129-31.
Kent J., 2004. J. Brom. Soc 54(4): 176.
Smith L B & R J Downs. 1979. Flora Neotropica, Monograph 14, Part 3 Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae). New York Bot. Gdns. New York