| "The first we read about this hybrid is in the Bromeliad Society Bulletin 1960 page 39 with a black and white photograph by Walter Richter himself, on page 40 (photo Vriesea 'Komet' original). The Bromeliad Cultivar Registry shows that this hybrid was done in 1959 and registered in 1967 and I can only assume that the photograph lodged with the registration was the same as that published in 1960! The parentage was quoted as Vriesea corcovadensis x 'Sceptre d'Or' | ) Vriesea 'Komet' original |
The identity of V. corcovadensis is in doubt because all the plants I have received under this name have been identified by Harry Luther as V. lubbersii so we have no photo to show you. Further, in the BSI Journal 1988 page 209 Harry Luther points out that the plant called V. corcovadensis in cultivation in the USA for many years is really V. lubbersii. Harry tells me that V. corcovadensis grows in the higher canopy with tillandsias but the overall habit can be expected to change when grown softer and potted. This is exactly what happened to my alleged 'corcovadensis' before I referred it to Harry for identification. No wonder I consider them synonymous!
| 'Sceptre d'Or' is even more confusing because many of the current plants I have stumbled across with this name have red floral bracts! The only photograph I have is from Gilbert Samyn of the Belgian Research Institute. | ) Vriesea 'Sceptre d'Or' |
The Bromeliad Cultivar Registry shows the parentage of 'Sceptre d'Or' as 'Gloriosa' x saundersii from Wittmack's Garten Flora in 1909 with hybridist unknown. But it also shows Duval in 1902 claiming the use of this name in the earlier period 1895-1900 for a hybrid V. mirabilis x Rex. If we refer to Flora Neotropica 14 page 1273 we will see that Smith has linked V. mirabilis to the bigeneric xGuzvriesea magnifica. However, Foster who coined this new bigeneric in BS Bulletin 1963 page 85 makes no reference to V. mirabilis. In any event, all bigenerics in the Bromeliaceae have so far been 'Mules' and could not have been used in a successful hybrid program initiated by Duval! I am therefore changing the reference in the Bromeliad Cultivar Registry back to that advised by Duval in 1902, namely, (mirabilis x Rex). I have a strong suspicion that the photograph taken by Samyn is in fact the FRENCH Duval hybrid because of the listed parentage. I have an equally strong suspicion that Richter used the GERMAN hybrid described in 1909 with the same name because of the listed parentage. I would like to obtain a photograph of such a plant which has the typical 'saundersii' markings on the leaves, if anyone has it in their possession.
So Richter would have used a suspect V. corcovadensis and the German 'Sceptre d'Or' to produce V. 'Komet' in 1959 and we have Richter's photograph of it, albeit in black and white. However, the pollen parent would have ensured a variable grex and I wonder if we are talking grex rather than cultivar. In Richter's 'Zimmerpflanzen von heute und morgen: Bromeliaceen (1965) page 280 V. 'Komet' is described as:
Plant - leaf rosette higher than wide, many leaved
Leaves - wider at base, sword-shaped, tipped, ca. 30cm long, robust, green, red tinted.
Scape - very long
Inflorescence - cylindrical/conical.
Floral bract - red with white tip
Flower - polystichous, white
Flowering - Spring
In the Australian Journal 'Bromeletter' March/April 1977 Ruby Ryde commented "My mystery plant called Vriesea 'Komet' is medium green with stiff pointed leaves, 30cm long, purple tinted at base and the outer leaves tend to curve downwards. Stem bracts and floral bracts are red and petals cream. However, Doreen Johnston's V. 'Komet' is about the same size but the flowers are stiff and are a different red and yellow in colour" This prompted a comment by the Editor, Olwen Ferris, "This takes me back to 1964 to a nursery near Mona Vale (south of Sydney) where bromeliads were being grown in hundreds from seed. I remember seeing Vriesea splendens and V. 'Komet' in one house and chose one of each with large inflorescences. The V. splendens were fairly uniform but V. 'Komet' varied in height from 15cm to 30cm. The inflorescences were from short to twice the leaf height with petal colouring from papery white to butter yellow and floral bracts from orange-red to a brownish red."
| No doubt this growing of self set seed from Vriesea 'Komet' would have been practised in other countries. I will now cloud the issue even further. In correspondence with Gilbert Samyn in 1994 when enquiring about a TRUE Vriesea 'Komet'(photo Vr 'Komet' Samyn) I was pleased to learn that Gilbert knew Herr Pinckert who had worked as a young man under Richter. He now had his own nursery in Germany and was continuing to experiment with 'Komet' The plant clumps easily and apparently it is the clumped plants with 3 or 4 inflorescences that are more popular in the trade. In trying to reproduce Richter's work Pinckert had doubts about the identification of the pollen parent. I received a photograph which came from Pinckert with the comment a true Vriesea 'Komet' (photo Vr 'Komet' true Pinckert) but you will see the inflorescence is not as lax as that shown in Richter's original photo. So variations are creeping in . There is also a yellow variant also from Pinckert (photo Vr 'Komet' yellow) There are also photographs (photos Vr 'Komet' 2 & Vr 'Komet' 3) of plants under this name being grown in Australia. One, rather intriguingly, was grown in Australia for many years as Vriesea acuminata.(photo Vr 'Komet' was acuminata) The best of the lot is undoubtedly what I called 'Raemaur Flame'(photo Vr 'Raemaur 'Flame') which could so easily have links with that seed raising in 1964 in Mona Vale! | ) Vriesea 'Komet' Samyn
|
)
)
) Vriesea 'Komet' 2 | ) Vriesea 'Komet' 3 | ) Vriesea 'Komet' was acuminata | ) Vriesea 'Raemaur Flame' |
I do not have any photographs from the USA to add to this puzzle and if anyone can assist it would be appreciated."