PLEASE NOTE! This plant is now known as AECHMEA 'Jean'
The following article is retained here for reference only.
" This plant was imported to Australia from the USA in 1981 from the Seaborn Del Dios Nursery of Escondido, California and the only reference we have is that mentioned in Brian Smith's Manuscript of Bromeliad hybrids and cultivars (1984). This manuscript indicates that Hummel was the hybridist and as is usual with this hybridist the parents are unknown! A photo is also shown in Baensch's "Blooming Bromeliads" 1994 on
page 37 which agrees with the plant being grown in Australia.The problem is that this plant does not have Nidularium in its make-up and appears to be similar to the hybrid done by Grace Goode named Aechmea 'Hal Ellis'. This is Aechmea 'Royal Wine' x Aechmea coelestis. While we do not have this particular clone to show you we do have Aechmea 'Beads of Coral' which is from the same grex. Please compare the photographs of xNidumea 'Jean' with that of A. 'Beads of Coral'. Compare it also with the other xNidumeas and xAechopsis on file. If I was allowed a guess at the parents I would say Aechmea fulgens or A. miniata with another Aechmea with a more compact inflorescence.
Is a plant called xNidumea 'Jean' being grown in California which looks totally different to the Aussie one? If so please advise.
We'd also like to know who Jean was because the name is not linked to the immediate Hummel family. Perhaps the answer lies in some of the old catalogues of Ed Hummel.
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