Aechmea chantinii
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Aechmea chantinii
Ken Woods 09/04
Ian Hook, Central Coast Brom.Soc. 05/06, large form
Vic Przetocki 04/25

Ian Hook 12/04, Hybrid, BSA comp.



Aechmea chantinii by Butcher 2001
There are two impossible tasks for Bromeliad growers:
1. To link all forms of Aechmea nudicaulis with the formal varieties with no overlap.
2. To identify all the cultivars of Aechmea chantinii.
Why should A. chantinii have more cultivar names than any other species of Aechmea? Officially there are 3 different forms of A. chantinii and the following Key shows their relationship:

1. Leaves concolorous => forma amazonica
1. Leaves conspicuously silver banded
- 2. Flowers to 30mm long => forma chantinii
- 2. Flowers to 40mm long => variety fuchii

The problem is that rarely do you see the names of amazonica and fuchsii on labels.
My other query relates to the paucity of cultivar names amongst plants similar to A. chantinii. I refer to what are called the Ecuadorian Platyaechmea which is a separate "Uncle Derek Says" article. So if you don't know the difference between say, A. chantinii and A. zebrina or A. tessmannii I suggest you refer to this other article.
The cynic in me says that Aechmea chantinii sells well but sells more if different cultivar names are used. Under the new ICNCP rules the cultivar name should be distinct and able to "stand alone" but with Aechmea chantinii I am not so sure. We only have a selection of photographs to show you but we'll give a list of cultivar names known. We are aware that, in line with all other registered cultivar names there are many more un-registered ones! We have a few of these too!
Anyway here goes.
'Amazonense' BCR pg 1
'Amazonica' BCR pg 1 NOT the official forma amazonica ! THE important part of this problem is that this plant was known as 'Amazonia' (note spelling) in BSIJ 1979 pg192. Surely this is a case of Michael's Bromeliads catalogue being corrected to save further misidentification. Or dare I suggest it be called just Aechmea chantinii.
'Ash Blond' BCR pg 2 Batch of seedlings (not a cultivar) selected by Lee Moore and Holmes
'Black' BCR pg 4
'Black Goddess'
'Black Ice'
'Checkmate' BCR pg 8 Photo JBS;1981 pg 176
'Dark Goddess' BCR pg 10
'Dwarf' BCR pg 11
'Early Bird'
'El Dorado' BCR pg 11
'Frosty' BCR pg 14
'Green Ice'
'Grey Ghost' BCR pg 16 Giant size
'Harlequin' BCR pg 17
'Hazel Quilhot' BCR pg 17 From 'Pink Goddess x 'Nigre'
'John Winston' BCR pg 19 F3 !
'Mako Santan' BCR pg 21
'Midnight Special'
'Mooreana' BCR pg 24 Contrary to the information under this heading this was the plant used by Harry Luther to describe Aechmea moorei! Refer to BSIJ 1980 pg176
'Nigre' BCR pg 24 The reference in JBS 1989 p216 is for an A. nudicaulis hybrid!
'Noir' BCR pg 24
'Norway' BCR pg 25
'Olive's Delight'
'Perumazon' BCR pg 27 cv of forma amazonica
'Pink Banners' BCR pg 27 cv of var fuchsii
'Pink Goddess' BCR pg 28
'Red Goddess' BCR pg 30 Photo JBS 1962 p110
'Samurai' BCR pg 32 From Japanese tissue culture. Yellow striped variegation. Note photograph. What do you call one without variegation?
'Shogun' BCR pg 33 From Japanese tissue culture. Yellow margins
'Silver Goddess' BCR pg 33
'Ski Track' BCR pg 34
'Snow Flake' BCR pg 34
'Solid Green' BCR pg 34 = forma amazonica
'Solid Silver' BCR pg 34
'Stripes on Stripes' BCR pg 35
'Sweden' BCR pg 35 Said to have blue flowers!!!
'Very Black' BCR pg 36
'Vista' BCR pg 37 Variegated

If you have photographs of any of the missing ones or disagree please let us know.


Aechmea chantinii by Nat DeLeon in J Brom Soc 62(2)64-69. 2012
I've never had any schooling in either botany or taxonomy, but I have grown tropical plants for more than 60 years in the Miami, Florida area. I also have a curious mind regarding the plants I grow. I went from my first love, palms, to bromeliads, and we have had a long association.
For some time now my favorite bromeliad group is Aechmea chantinii, and, if anything, it has intensified.
Does anyone have all the cultivars of Ae. chantinii? I doubt it. Don Beadle's book, "The Bromeliad Cultivar Registry" June 1998, a classic, lists some 34 cultivars. I'm sure that some of the names are duplicate with most of the cultivars being made from Florida west to California, and from many other areas in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. Ae. chantinii has also been extensively hybridized. No other bromeliad that I know of has as many cultivars. And now I will stick my neck out and let the splitters and lumpers be damned, and say that Ae. chantinii is a species that acts like a hybrid. I have read everything I could read including the BSI Journal (an excellent source of information) going back to almost the very beginning. Since I'm retired now, every so often I read old issues of the Journal and the tip off came when I was reading an article in one of those issues (Vol. l, No. 3, 1951) by Charles Chevalier, a curator of the great botanical gardens of the University of Liege, Belgium in which he wrote, "One curious discovery was that the Ae. chantinii, from which no results had been obtainable by auto-fecundation {self-pollination}, gave when fecundated by Ae. fulgens v. discolor, a whole series of really remarkable plants. These had leaves of every shade from olive green to reddish brown, and thickly flowering cupitula {heads} well separated above the foliage, presenting a whole gamut of warm bright colors, from canary yellow, through orange and salmon pink to coral red." Primary crosses between species of each other just don't do that or there is very little difference between the progeny. Yet Ae. chantinii continues to be cross pollinated with each other, and as long as this happens there will continue to be new cultivars.
The first Ae. chantinii was introduced by M. Baraguin from Brazil in 1877 into France. It was first described by Baker in 1889. All attempts to self-pollinate it failed and so it could only be propagated by division of the suckers. As a result, it continued to be very rare and grown mostly by European botanical gardens. Many years ago, through a series of seed and plant trades, I finally obtained an off-set which still grows in my large oak tree in my front yard. The plant is of medium size and continues to grow smaller in size than most forms.
In JBS Vol. XXV 1975, No. 3, Victoria Padilla wrote, "So far as it can be determined, no more specimens of this plant were collected because the location of its habitat was forgotten. Collectors who went to Peru tried to collect at higher elevations rather than along the hot, humid Amazon." Padilla continued, "For years the only plants that were available to collectors were the suckers produced from these first few imports. For some strange reason, the first plants were evidently sterile and not capable of producing seed."
Then in 1960, some 83 years after its first introduction, a collector named Lee Moore of Miami, Florida, found it growing along parts of the upper Amazon in Peru. In 1963, Lee wrote in the Bromeliad Society Bulletin 13(1), "Ae. chantinii is one that caused quite a lot of controversy among the experts because of the wide variation of its clones. Each small tributary had a different clone of this plant. Before I found these plants in the jungle, there had been only one clone that was known to the world. But now I have found at least eight definite clones of this species."
Padilla further said, "Moore sent a number of plants to the nurseryman, Mr. Jack Holmes of Tampa, Florida, who grew mostly orchids. Victoria Padilla wrote, "He would not be satisfied until he himself went to Iquitos, Peru, and with the assistance of Lee Moore collected hundreds of this Aechmea for his establishment. The plants he brought back came in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Most of them were much larger than those grown in Europe but unfortunately lacking the graceful form and clear-cut banding of the early imports {from Brazil}. Whereas the cultivated European types measured 10 - 12 inches both ways, these new plants grew as tall as 2.5 feet and almost as wide. There was a very wide variation in the banding and shape within these new jungle species. Some had gray foliage and silver banding with a pink inflorescence; others were definitely tubular in shape, some had dark red to almost black leaves with silver banding. Some had no banding at all."
Padilla continued, "Jack Holmes finally had enough plants to experiment with them to see if he could get them to set seed. After a round-the-clock vigil he discovered that by pollinating the plants in the early hours before dawn, he was better able to secure seed and so provide enough plants of Ae. chantinii to meet the great demand for this plant."
“What has bothered this writer {Victoria Padilla} for many years is why it took so long for plantsmen to rediscover this bromeliad. In 1964 she went to Iquitos herself (see Vol. XV, No.2, 1964) to see these plants growing in their homeland. In and around Iquitos she saw them growing everywhere, even growing on fences in the town itself. They were so common as to be considered weeds. "It would be interesting for someone to try their hand at pollinating modern Ae. chantinii clones in the hours before dawn and see if it works. I would myself but I am handicapped in having my left arm rendered useless with a bout of Shingles.
Then in 1977, Shirley and Jack Grubb of River Ridge, Louisiana, went to Iquitos to collect Ae. chantinii and couldn't find a single plant, although they collected other bromeliads. Apparently local vendors and others had stripped them clean. Iquitos is by the head waters of the Amazon River. That area feeds a big business of fish, snakes and animals and connects with the city of Leticia, located on the upper Amazon River itself. From there seaplanes pick up the works and fly them to many parts of the world. I remember one pilot in particular who used to fly in plants, etc. into Miami. He knew about Ae. chantinii, but brought in other plants as well. I got to know him and would identify and buy plants. I knew his flight schedule and would meet him near the airport. In the meantime, Jack Holmes also cross-pollinated many of the plants Lee Moore sold him, and eventually most of the plants he was selling were hybrid crossings and they sold just as well.
It was remarkable how varied the plants were, whether they were field collected or not. So far the floral bract colors range from orange to shades of red and pink. Bob Spivey collected a plant in Ecuador whose bracts were pure yellow and of course the plant itself took the color and form of its own.
Out of curiosity, I took out my World Atlas to see for myself where Ae. chantinii had been collected. Try it sometime and see how little collecting has been done over such a great area. Maybe Victoria Padilla was right when she wrote that collectors prefer the cooler, higher elevations over the very hot sea level locations. So far it has been found in all of the countries that extend into the Amazon. The largest area, Brazil, only has one collection that I know of. Oddly it was the first site known.
Ae. chantinii belongs in the subfamily Platyaechmea and probably the best treatment of the group is to be found in Volume I 'The Flora of Ecuador' by Prof. Jose Manzanares who braved the hot lowland Amazonian area of his country. He describes species and several varieties, including what are natural hybrids. Considering that the Platyaechmea are so varied in every way, both in plant size and character, inflorescence size and color, etc., it becomes difficult to know where one species starts and the other ends. As a result, scholars are not always in agreement. Given the variation of the family in all of its parts, some scholars lump some of the species together, arguing that they should be treated as forms of said species. The odds are that as more collections are made from the Amazon, then perhaps there will be a better understanding of the group.
Uncle Derek says, "An impossible task for bromeliad growers is to TRY and identify all of the cultivars of Ae. chantinii." That will never happen. As long as people continue to cross two chantinii acting as a hybrid, it will continue to make new cultivars. The other problem is that each grower who hybridizes, myself included, thinks that the results of his or her pollinating efforts bear unique results.
Most, including myself, never register their results, and so we have a situation that will only get worse. The problem, as I see it, is that the plant is too ornamental and we think that by hybridizing it we can improve it or come up with something special, but special is only in the eye of the beholder. Several years ago, I visited a grower who grew a lot of chantinii. Before I left, she brought over one of these plants and asked what I thought of it. I didn't want to embarrass her even though I thought the plant was very plain. She then asked me to take a closer look at the plant. It was then that I saw that the leaf edges had no spines, they were as smooth as a baby's skin.
This spineless plant may have been the most important sight I had ever seen in bromeliads. She was way ahead of me and knew what I was thinking. While the plant itself was unattractive, it had to be hybridized with other chantinii to see if she could get a spineless plant with attractive foliage. She knew that the work ahead had no guarantees. I asked her to let me know when the plant was beginning to flower and if I had any cultivars coming or in bloom, she was welcome to use them. Less than a year later, I got the call. She hybridized as many plants as she could which produced a lot of seed. About nine months later, I visited her again. In one area she had some 50 plants, all spineless. All had good foliage of different patterns and colors. What a remarkable sight! During 60 years of growing bromeliads, the sight of those spineless plants will always be remembered. She knew that there was a lot of work ahead. I suggested she choose four or five of what she thought the best and propagate them, probably by putting them into tissue culture. She had one shot at making a killing, money-wise. Once she began selling them, other people would put them into tissue culture and the plant's value would be reduced. Believe me, the plants will be priceless. And think, no more digging spines out of your arms or going for a blood transfusion! How long will it take for the plants to be released? Who knows? But the event will be well worth the wait!


Aechmea chantinii (Carriere) Baker, Handb. Bromel.49. 1889.
Billbergla chantinii Carriere, Rev. Hortic. 50: 112, figure 2. 1878; 52: 272, figures 54-56. 1880.
TYPE: Brazil?, flowered in cultivation, Baraquin in Paris Hortus s.n. (P?), n.v.).
Detail from Luther in Selbyana 10: 56-9. 1987
DISTRIBUTION. Amazonian South America.

The following synopsis of the subspecific taxa of Aechmea chantinii is presented prior to the publication of a full monograph of the Amazonian taxa of Aechmea subgenus Platyaechmea (Luther, in prep.). A full citation of specimens examined will be given at that time.

Key to the Subspecific Taxa of Aechmea chantinii

1a Leaves concolorous => var. chantinii f. amazonica.
1b Leaves conspicuously silver banded. => 2
2a Flowers to 30 mm long => var. chantinii f. chantinii.
2. Flowers to 40 mm long => var. fuchsii.

Aechmea chantinii var. chantinii forma chantinii
Desc from S&D
Plant to 1 m high.
Leaves 4-10 dm long, densely punctulate-lepidote;
Sheaths large, broadly ovate, castaneous;
Blades ligulate, acute or rounded and apiculate, 6-9 cm wide, typically white-banded beneath.
Scape erect, slender, white-flocculose;
Scape bracts lanceolate, acuminate, laxly serrulate, bright red, the lower lax and erect, the upper spreading and dense.
Inflorescence laxly bipinnate;
Primary bracts lower ones like the scape-bracts, 6-12 cm long, exceeding the spikes, serrulate, the upper abruptly reduced, resembling the floral bracts;
Spikes long-stipitate, narrowly lanceolate, densely 12 flowered; rhachis geniculate, excavated next the flowers.
Floral bracts distichous, broadly ovate, subtruncate, 10-13 mm long, slightly exceeding the ovary, strongly nerved, lepidote;
Flowers to 32 mm long (to 30 mm !Luther).
Sepals asymmetric, 10-12 mm long, equally short-connate, muticous;
Petals obtuse, 2 cm long, orange;
Ovary glabrous; placentae apical; ovules long-caudate.
TYPE: Brazil?, flowered in cultivation, Baraquin in Paris Hortus s.n. (P?), n.v.
DISTRIBUTION. Venezuela, Brazil, Peru.

Aechmea chantinii var. chantinii forma amazonica (Ule) Luther, comb. et stat. nov., Selbyana 10: 56-9. 1987
Aechmea amazonica Ule, Verh. Bot. Ver. Brand. 48: 136. 1907.
Leaves concolorous
TYPE: Ule 6315 (B, F photo 11305) Peru, San Martin, Tarapoto,.
DISTRIBUTION. Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador (?), Peru.

Aechmea chantinii (Carr.) Bak. var. fuchsii Luther, var. nov. Selbyana 10: 56-9. 1987
A typo Aechmeae chantinii var. chantinii similis sed bracteis partibus florum permajoribus.
TYPE. F. Fuchs, Jr. s.n. (SEL, holotype; US, isotype). Ecuador, Napo, without specific locality,
Plant propagating by stout, 30 cm long stolons;
Leaves to 65 cm long, conspicuously silver banded on both sides;
Sheaths elliptic, to 17 cm wide, dark castaneous within,
Blades to 10 cm wide, armed with dark 4 mm long antrorse spines,
Scape erect to decurved, stout, white flocculose;
Scape bracts imbricate but the upper often reflexed, to 18 cm long, serrate, pink.
Primary bracts like the scape bracts but the upper bracts abruptly much reduced. Branches stipitate, spreading, to 12 cm long, 8- to 15-flowered.
Floral bracts broadly ovate, to 2 cm long, yellow green.
Sepals very asymmetrical, 17-20 mm long, yellow green.
Petals 25 mm long, each with 2 basal appendages, bright yellow with white apex.
Ovary to 15 mm long.
DISTRIBUTION. Ecuador.

RELATIONSHIPS. According to overall morphology this new variety fits comfortably within the taxon Aechmea chantinii but differs in the size of the bracts and flower parts being more or less 50 percent larger. This is the first and only verified collection of this species to be found in Ecuador and has been in cultivation for several years under the cultivar name 'Pink Banners'.

Note. See also Lecoufle, Marcel. Les Aechmea Ruiz et Pavon in Jardins de France 138: 99. 1965.
Quote: "We imported numerous plants of this species in several varieties, some different to each other by the aspect of their flowers or their foliage:
A. chantinii. - Green leaves marbled transversely with large white bands. Relatively dwarf plant.
A. chantinii virescens. - Completely green leaves. Now var. amazonica
A. c. grey ghost. - Similar aspect to chantinii but reaching 80 centimeters. Now 'Grey Ghost'
A. c. rubra. - Leaves colour of wine dregs, marbled transversely with silvery white. Not now used
A. c. goddess. - Five times bigger than the variety chantinii of M. Chantin. Pink bracts. Now query 'Pink Goddess'
We propagate these natural varieties and I can affirm that Aechmea chantinii will become a very commercial plant."

From S&D 1979
117. Aechmea chantinii (Carriere) Baker, Handb. Bromel. 49. 1889. Fig 646 F-G. (Schultes & Cabrera 16114)
Billbergia chantinii Carriere, Rev. Hortic. 50: 112, fig. 22. 1878; 52: 2272, figs. 54-56. 1880.
Aechmea amazonica Ule, Verh. Bot. Ver. Brand. 48: 136. 1907. Type. Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru, Ule 6315 (B, photo F 11305), Sep 1902.
Plant to 1 m high.
Leaves 4-10 dm long, densely punctulate-lepidote;
sheaths large, broadly ovate, castaneous;
blades ligulate, acute or rounded and apiculate, 6-9 cm wide, typically white-banded beneath.
Scape erect, slender, white-flocculose;
scape-bracts lanceolate, acuminate, laxly serrulate, bright red, the lower lax and erect, the upper spreading and dense.
Inflorescence laxly bipinnate; lower primary bracts like the scape-bracts, 6-12 cm long, exceeding the spikes, serrulate, the upper abruptly reduced, resembling the floral bracts;
spikes long-stipitate, narrowly lanceolate, densely 12-flowered;
rhachis geniculate, excavated next the flowers.
Floral bracts distichous, broadly ovate, subtruncate, 10-13 mm long, slightly exceeding the ovary, strongly nerved, lepidote;
flowers to 32 mm long.
Sepals asymmetric, 10-12 mm long, equally short-connate, muticous;
petals obtuse, 2 cm long, orange;
ovary glabrous; placentae apical; ovules long-caudate.
Type. Baraquin in Paris Hortus s n (holotype, P if preserved, n v), cultivated. Cultivated Dec 1953 , Foster s n (US, possible clonotype).
Distribution. Epiphytic in forest, 100-1160 m alt, Colombia to Peru and Amazonian Brazil.
COLOMBIA. Vaupes-Amazonas: Soratama, Rio Apaporis, 14 Feb 1952, Schultes & Cabrera 16114 (COL, US). Caqueta: San Luis, Rio Orteguaza, 6 Jan 1969, Cuatrecasas, Soderstrom & Soria 27166 (US). Amazonas: El Encanto to mouth of Rio Carapani, May 1942, Schultes 3822 (GH); Trapecio Amazonico, Oct 1945, Schultes 6599 (US); 6893 (US); Puerto Narino, 2 Jan 1972, C. E. Smith, Jr. 5052 (US). VENEZUELA. Amazonas: Rio Casiquiare, 1969, Farinas, Velasquez & Medina 683 (US, VEN). ECUADOR. Napo: Mera, 30 Dec 1958, Harling 3797 (S, US). PERU. San Martin: Tarapoto, Dec 1929, L. Williams 5913 (F); 6124 (F). Loreto: Caballo-Cocha on Amazon River, 1929, L. Williams 2220 (F); Iquitos, 1929, Klug 349 (F, US); 5 Nov 1940, Asplund 14341 (S, US); 20 Nov 1945, Pires & Black 882 (IAN, GH). BRAZIL. Amazonas: Lago de Badajos, 10 Sep 1950, Froes 26588 (IAN, US); Ilha das Flores, Rio Negro, 21 Feb 1959, Cavalcante 671 (MG, US). Acre: Cruzeiro do Sul, Rio Jurua, 27 Oct 1966, Prance et al 2920 (NY).

Note. For varieties not assessed here cf. Lecoufle, Marcel. Les Aechmea Ruiz et Pavon in Jardins de France 138: 99. 1965.

From Mez 1935
50. Ae. Chantinii (Carr.) Bak. Bromel (1889) 49.
Billbergia Chantini Carr. in Rev. Hortic. L. (1878) 112, fig.22 et LII. (1880) 272, fig. 54-56.
Folia ad 10 ex erccto sub-patentia, late linearia, apice late rotundata impositeque mucronata, margine horride spinosa, pedalii, ad 50 mm lata, utrinque zonis niveis saturateque viridibus transversalibus quam maxime insignia. Vaginae scapales superiores spinoso-serratae. Inflorescentia sub-pauciflora, breviter pyramidata, dense 2-pinnatim panniculata, ad 0,12 m longa et 80 mm diam. metiens, e ramis subabbreviatis, dense flores ad 7 gerentibus, bracteas primarias paullo superantibus composita; bracteis florigeris ovatis, haud mucronatis, ovaria superantibus, integerrimis, margine cum axi haud connatis. Flores sessiles, ad 30 mm longi; sepalis liberis?, apice haud mucronatis. Petala lutea, anguste linearia, apice acuta. Brasilien: Hylaea, aus dem Amazonas-Tal von Baraquin, der die Art im Garten eines Negers fand, eingefuhrt. - Scheint aus der Kultur wieder verschwunden.

74. Ae. amazonica Ule in Verh. Bot. verein Brandenb. XLVIII. (1906) 136.
Folia 10-12, late linearia, apice in acumen molle longiusculum contracta, spinulis ad 2 mm longis dense armata, ad 0,9 m longa et usque ad 90 mm lata, dorso lepidoto-vittata. Vaginae scapales margine, spinoso-serrulatae. Inflorescentia ample 2-pinnatim panniculata, bracteis primariis inferioribus 90-110 mm longis, ad 30 mm latis, lanceolato-ovatis, in acumen molle desinentibus, remote serratis; spicis stipitatis, optime distichis, ad 12-floris; bracteis florigeris omnibus fertilibus, marsupium permanifestum efformantibus, late ellipticis, obtusis, navicularibus, corneis margine membranaceis, 10-13 mm longis, lepidotis, quam flores brevioribus. Flores sessiles, ad 32 mm longi; sepalis 3-4 mm connatis, obtusis apice vix mucronatis, asymmetricis. Petala aurantiaca, ad 20 mm longa,. apice obtusa, basi ligulata. Filamenta ser. II. petalis adnata; antheris 6 mm longis. Ovarium 10 mm longum; placentis loculis prope apicem affixis; ovulis longe caudatis. Brasilien, Hylaea am Jurua und anderwurts. Peru: Hylaea bei Tarapoto (Ule n. 6315).

Updated 21/05/25