Gardner, in 1986 had then abdita 68, brachycaulos 69, and capitata 70.
So they are very close.
Photo 4 Tillandsia brachycaulos Primary bracts cherry red |
Photo 5 Tillandsia velutina Primary bracts carmine red and leaves velvety to the touch |
**Note added 2006. Although Harry Luther maintains that T. bradeana is the proper old name for T. abdita - and he could well be correct - this taxon will continue to be referred to as T. abdita in this article
Photo 6 Tillandsia abdita Selby |
Photo 7 Tillandsia abdita Hick |
Photo 8 Tillandsia abdita flower |
Photo 9 Tillandsia abdita Ehlers |
Now we come to THE problem. Renate Ehlers tells us that all the plants she has examined have no trichomes on the floral bract or the sepal making it a T. brachycaulos according to L.B.Smith's treatment and Gardner's treatment. Andrew Flower from New Zealand tells me his plant has no trichomes on either floral bract or sepal (after I asked him to check!) and I suspect the same applies to the Selby Gardens specimen. The description also says scape very small which links with the Ehler's plant but none of the other three ; here the scape is prominent suggesting links with T. capitata. If we treat Ehler's plant as a T. brachycaulos how can we possibly link the other 3 to T. abdita. In a complex where length of scape and glabrous/lepidote floral bracts and sepals play key roles in separating the species these factors cannot be ignored when trying to link these three plants to T. abdita. A true T. abdita with small scape and trichomes on both floral bract and sepals must be very rare indeed and a new name and description should be prepared if it is considered these plants are in fact a separate species or a variety of T. brachycaulos.
Francisco Morales of Costa Rica has been doing some research (Sept 1999) into this species - Refer INBio Web site. He refers to Smith's original description but does not point out the differences that he must have found and should have commented on. He has not responded to my queries! These are:-
Smith | Morales | |
Scape | Very short | 5.5 to 10cm long |
Floral bracts | exceed sepals carinate lepidote |
shorter or equalling not carinate glabrous |
Sepals | free | not noted |
If we follow this new information the matter becomes even more complex when we only rely on whether the bracts or sepals have trichomes. To my mind T. abdita differs from T. brachycaulos by having a pronounced scape and T. abdita differs from T. capitata by the purplish leaves (but then T. capitata can have these too!) In all it is very puzzling that a very variable T. capitata is accepted as, too, is a narrowly defined T. abdita (but proved variable - see above) both in description and geographical distribution. T. capitata in the broad sense has been found as far south as Honduras. Has it been found in Costa Rica? Its close relative T. brachycaulos certainly has. The answer lies in Costa Rica where more research is necessary.
Let us leave that problem and say there are no trichomes on the sepals. Remember floral bract yes, sepals no! You should have 1 or 2 flowers per branch. What happens if you have up to 7 flowers per branch? Remember the old T. brachycaulos v. multiflora which had a similar number? It is now considered a natural hybrid between T. brachycaulos and T.caput-medusae. Think T. vinalesensis. Never heard of it? Well, in 1991 Lydia and Gerhard Kohres collected a few plants near Vinales in Cuba which is the same area that T. tephrophylla Harms grows.( Note here that Smith treated T. tephrophylla as synonymous with T. capitata)
The type species for T. capitata is Wright3274 from Oriente, Cuba. In 1956 Rohweder linked T. tephrophylla of Harms (Ekmann16693) from Vinales, Cuba with Matuda's guzmanioides from Chiapas, Mexico (this is now T. lautneri and out of the discussion). Rohweder in 1956 (Die Farinosae in der Vegetation von El Salvador, Hamburg 1956) compared Wright 3274 and Ekmann16693 and said "T. tephrophylla is in all parts bigger than T. capitata, it has a descending scape with very big and wide scape-bracts with sheaths much longer than the spike and concealing the spike. Leaves and primary bracts are less stiff than in T. capitata." According to his comments T. tephrophylla should be a good species on its own.
When comparing her "vinalesensis" with "domingensis" Ehlers says they are similar in habit and inflorescence but "vinalesensis" is much larger in all respects and the inflorescence with a many flowered spike, not 1 or 2 flowers. Could Wright 3274 as a small capitata be linked to "domingensis" the Dominican Republic form of Rauh indicating that the "island" forms of T. capitata are in fact different to the mainland forms? The proposed T. vinalesensis by Ehlers could well be the old T. tephrophylla even though branches of only 1 - 2 flowers were reported. Compare the photos of T. vinalesensis with those of Dominican Republic #37 & 38
Photo 10 Tillandsia vinalesensis |
Photo 11 Tillandsia vinalesensis flower |
This finally clears the way to look at the complex subject of T. capitata. So far things have been simple!!
T. capitata generally grow at higher altitudes and are more used to a wider range of temperatures and perhaps this is why they seem easier to grow than T. brachycaulos.
Let us look at some forms of T. capitata starting at the northerly part of its range in the State of Jalisco, Mexico and work our way south. Try to keep these photographs in mind because I'll be wanting you to try to help me link these habitat identified plants of Renate Ehlers with Nurserymen's names. Drawings are by the late Wilhelm Weber.
Photo 12 Tillandsia capitata Autlan, State of Jalisco |
Photo 13 Tillandsia capitata Autlan, plant |
Photo 14 Tillandsia capitata Autlan, flower |
Photo 22 Tillandsia capitata Yosondua, State of Oaxaca |
Photo 23 Tillandsia capitata Yosondua, flower |
Photos 23a & 23b Tillandsia rhodocephala |
This seems to be the right place to introduce T. rhodocephala because this was growing in the same area albeit terrestrially whereas the smaller T. capitata was growing saxicolously. It is clearly related to T. capitata and many of the quoted differences could well have been caused by its terrestrial and crowding habit increasing the time and amount of moisture available to the plant. The lack of roots could well be explained by the surplus of water. The reason why all plants were terrestrial could also be explained by sterile plants only reproducing by offsets, with the possibility of hybrid or mutation origin. In the description no mention was made of other tillandsias in the area other than the small yellow-bracted T. capitata. Although found in 1991 no attempt has been made to see if it sets viable seed to be grown on to prove its specific rank.
Photo 24 Tillandsia capitata Camaron, State of Oaxaca this seems the same as from Yosondua |
Photo 25 Tillandsia capitata Camaron, flower |
Photo 26 Tillandsia capitata Tlaxiaco, State of Oaxaca this seems the same as from Yosondua |
Photo 27 Tillandsia capitata Tlaxiaco, plant |
Photo 28 Tillandsia capitata Tlaxiaco, flower |
Photo 30a Tillandsia capitata Janitzo, State of Chiapas |
Photo 30b Tillandsia capitata Janitzo, flower |
Guatemala is the land of the dreaded Guatemalan Tillandsia sphaerocephala or was it T. xerographica x T. brachycaulos. This plant certainly had Meyer and Feldhoff, two plant distributors in Guatemala somewhat confused. Renate Ehlers actually went to Guatemala to solve the mystery and we nearly had a new species BUT as you have seen she couldn't work out the variations in the Mexican forms and changed her mind. She found the plant near the Rio Hondo near Zacapa. It is probably the largest T. capitata. However, there seems to be sufficient differences for it to be a species in its own right.
Photo 32 Tillandsia capitata Rio Hondo, Guatemala |
Photo 33 Tillandsia capitata Rio Hondo, plant. Typical habit |
Photo 34 Tillandsia capitata Rio Hondo, flower |
Photo 35 Tillandsia capitata Honduras Is this the only form found in this country? |
Photo 36 Tillandsia capitata Honduras, flower |
A plant named T. capitata v. domingensis was not correctly described by Rauh and not accepted by botanists but it certainly looks different to other T. capitata forms.
Photo 37 Tillandsia capitata Dominican Republic |
Photo 38 Tillandsia capitata Dominican Republic inflorescence |
Now we have looked at the various plants discussed you may like to view a chart that shows where to look for differences and shows how complex things are!
abdita *LBS |
abdita *JFM |
brachy x caput | brachycaulos | capitata | rio hondo | rhodocephala | velutina | vinalesensis | |
Visible scape | no | yes | no | no | yes | yes | yes | no | yes |
Spike approx 7 flower | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | yes |
Floral bract trichomes | yes | no | yes | no | yes | no | at apex | no | yes |
Sepals trichomes | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no |
Posterior sepals joined | no | ? | yes & no | yes & no | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Floral Bracts exceed sepals | yes | equals | ? | equals | equals | no | yes | no | no |
Now let us look at Nurserymen's plants and see how they fit. Why can't they supply collection areas? Why do they give fancy names instead of identifying the form by its geographical location?