Aechmea seidelii
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Aechmea seidelii
(Plants formerly on this page have been moved to seideliana as per FCBS details - with blue petals.)
| Dennis Cathcart 1031-4 |
Ae. seidelii drawing |
Aechmea seidelii (Leme) Smith & Spencer, Phytologia 72: 96-8. 1992
Streptocalyx seidelii Leme, Bradea 4: 313. 1987
Plant flowering ca. 60cm high,
Leaves ca. 15, suberect, rosulate, ligulate, ca. 45cm long, forming a funnel shaped utriculum at the base.
Sheaths elliptic, ca 15cm long, ca 10cm wide, greenish or purplish, both sides dense but minute brown lepidote,
Blades sublinear, ca 30cm long, ca 8cm wide, corrugated lengthwise, both sides sparse and inconspicuous white lepidote, tip rounded becoming reddish and conspicuously apiculate, margins densely spined, spines brown 0.5 – 1mm long,
Scape erect, thick, ca 37cm long, 1cm diam., green, at first white wooly later glabrescent,
Scape bracts ca 5cm long, ca 2.7cm wide, ovate, tip rounded to acute and conspicuously apiculate, green, glabrescent, edges densely serrulate towards the tip, erect and enclosing the scape, the lower ones exceeding the internodes, the upper ones exceeded by the internodes.
Inflorescence erect, up to 2/3 above the base, bipinnate, upper part simple, dense, sub-cylindric, ca 12cm long, ca 3cm diam,. a little exceeding the leaves,
Primary bracts ovate- lanceolate, tip acuminate, densely serrulate towards the tip, greenish, glabrescent, erect, moderately exceeding the lower branches, shorter than the upper branches, 22-4.5cm long, 1-2.5cm wide,
Branches ca 8, erect, inconspicuously pedunculate, complanate, densely flowered, slightly elongated, 4cm long, ca 1.5cm wide,
Floral bracts ovate, tip acute-apiculate, entire, red, 8-12 mm long, 5-8mm wide, membranaceous, a little shorter or longer than the ovary, ecarinate, glabrescent, or sparsely lepidote on the outside, scales fimbriate.
Flowers erect, sessile, 27mm long, distichous on the branches, polystichous on the simple part,
Sepals a little asymmetric, sub-oblong, ecarinate, tip micronulate-uncinate, 9mm long, 4mm wide, connate 2-3mm, glabrescent, green,
Petals sub-erect, 15mm long, maximum width 5mm, every other filament joined 2mm from the base, tip rounded and very minutely apiculate, apiculus incurved, no ligules, with 2 callosities lengthwise, pale yellow,
Stamens included, Filaments tubular, epipetalous joined 4mm from the base of the petals, alternate ones joined 2mm to the petals;
Anthers linear, 4mm long, acute at the base, tip conspicuous mucronate, dorsifixed towards the middle; Style base tripartite.
Ovary 8mm long, ca 6mm diam,. ovate, almost trigonus, green, glabrous; Epigynous tube 3mm long, Placenta joined at the middle, Ovules obtuse.
Type Bahia near Seabra. leg. Alvim Seidel no 1056. flowered in cultivation October 1986. HOLOTYPE: HB
Regarding all known species of the genus Streptocalyx, we did not observe any close relation between them and the new described species. On the other hand according to the key elaborated by Smith & Downs (1979), the S. seidelii Leme fits near S. poeppigii Beer, differing, at first sight, by the shape of the leaves; the sepals much more strongly asymmetric and smaller; the petals also much smaller and yellow, and the ovules obtuse.
NOTE Dec 2009:
When I was at Selby Gardens, on April 2nd, 2001, I studied the Clonotype of A. seidelii Leme that was in full bloom. Below are the notes from my collection notebook:
SEL 1996-0644
Leme 1039 Clonotype
Fl. Cult. Selby Gardens
Only about 10% of the pollen grains got stained with acetic carmine, indicating a pollen viability in the range of INTERGENERIC hybrids in Bromeliaceae.
I made a voucher of the inflorescence and a few leaves and deposited it at SEL Herbarium.
Besides the pollen viability, the plant had an overall very strange look, with twisted and corrugated leaves and twisted scape and inflorescence.
Regards, Msc. Bruno Rezende Silva, Botanist, Living Collections Office, Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden.
Updated 20/09/17