Toward the end of 1999 a plant I had received as Tillandsia setacea again flowered and I felt sure it had to be the mysterious Tillandsia xfloridana. I say mysterious because I had never seen a full description of this plant and there are very few photographs about. One I did find in the New Tillandsia Handbook by Hiroyuki Takizawa which I will refer to later.
I first put my queries to Dr Walter Till who kindly sent me a copy of Phytologia 57 (3) 1985 where Harry Luther had described this natural hybrid. My problem was that this Tillandsia setacea had come from a Cactus Nursery in Australia in 1989 who had imported batches of tillandsias from Guatemala and California. It would have been unlikely to have come directly from Florida.
Let us look at the comments made by Harry Luther in 1985.
In central Florida, Tillandsia fasciculata v. densispica (near the northern limit of its range) apparently hybridizes with the dominant species, Tillandsia bartramii. Specimens more or less morphologically intermediate between these species are fairly frequent. In some populations the proported hybrid plants tend to greatly resemble the T. bartramii parent suggesting further backcrossing. It should be noted that the type specimen (Foster 2820 at US) more closely resembles a typical T. fasciculata v. densispica than most of the additional material examined. Mulford Foster (cf. letter with type at US) suggested a hybrid origin for his 2820 but appeared to dismiss this possibility without explanation. C. S. Gardner (1982, and pers. comm.) also concluded that this taxon was of hybrid origin but did not propose any nomenclatural changes.
Tillandsia xfloridana may be distinguished from T. bartramii by its larger size and more ample inflorescence as well as a tendency to form more erect, not hemispherical clusters. It differs from T. fasciculata by being somewhat smaller with narrower leaves and having pink (not red or green) rather thin, usually lepidote floral bracts"
"The narrow leaf Tillandsia taxa of Central Florida have been a source of confusion for many years (Smith, 1966). Previous workers, dealing mainly with herbarium material have found great difficulty in applying names to the variable populations of tillandsias found from Lake Okeechobee northward in peninsular Florida. Only by observing living populations is it possible to understand this variation and correlate characters of the living plants with artefacts of preserved specimens.
My plant fits into the description but could easily have come from Mexico where many like plants abound such as Tillandsia hammeri and T. juncea. To show what a tangled web we weave it may be noted that the "old T. juncea" of Florida is really T. bartramii! it could easily have been misnamed and remember that both T.fasciculata and T. bartramii occur in Mexico and could produce T. xfloridana-like hybrids there too!
My plea to the Floridian experts in home-grown tillandsias is for a photograph of a 'normal' T. xfloridana to compare with mine. Please also look at the New Tillandsia Handbook page 105 where the plant seems closer to T. bartramii parent as advised in the Harry Luther statement."
