Derek the Hybrid Detective
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DD0107 Neoregelia ‘Oeser’s Nova’ 01/2007


In the 1980’s I was searching for Neoregelia species in Australia and would suggest that 25 years later I would find the job even harder. One of my sources was Bill Morris of Medowie, New South Wales. I got this plant from him called ‘Oeser’s sp. nova’ and he was unable to say where he had got it. The previous 20 years were very good years for Bill because he found plants around Australia that few knew existed! Anyway, I was convinced this was a species and not a hybrid. When it flowered for me, as is usual, I took it to pieces and the closest species was Neoregelia hatschbachii.
It differed in
1. Red splashes on the leaves which were shorter
2. Scape 3cm long not 7cm.
3. Sepal 2cm long not 2.6cm.
4. Petal 3.7 cm long not 4cm

So I was happy to treat my plant as Neoregelia aff. hatschbachii. Then in 1998 Elton Leme decided that N. hatschbachii was a synonym of N. bahiana where the petals are a minimum of 5.5cm long. So while I was happy with my ‘Oeser’s sp. nova’ being an aff N. hatschbachii I wasn’t quite as happy linking it to N. bahiana.

It has taken me a further 8 years to bite the bullet and give my plant the cultivar name ‘Oeser’s Nova’. This leaves the way open for others in the future to work out which species it is closest to. In the meantime if you are growing a Neoregelia Oeser’s sp. nova please take note that it is recorded as a cultivar in the offchance that someone may be able to link to a known taxon.



Updated 18/01/07