Basionym: Vriesea nahoumii Leme, J. Bromeliad Soc. 43(6): 244. 1993.
Desc from JBS p244-5
Vriesea nahoumii Leme sp. nov.
Subgen. Alcantarea E. Morren ex Mez
A V. geniculata (Wawra) Wawra, cui affinis, foliis brevioribus, inflorescentia 20-30 cm longa, bracteis primariis quam basin sterilem ebracteatam ramulorum aequantibus, bracteis floriferis altitudinem sepalorum aequantibus vel vix brevioribus, sepalis leviter asymmetricis differt.
Type. Brazil. State of Bahia, Milagres. Leg. Pedro Nahoum & L.C. Marigo s.n January 1993 (Holotype HB).
Plant lithophytic, flowering ca. 100 cm high;
Leaves densely rosulate suberect, forming a broad funnelform rosette at base;
Sheaths broadly elliptic, ca 10 cm long, ca. 11 cm wide, densely brown lepidote on both sides, pale;
Blade sublinear, 35 cm long, 7 cm wide, not narrowed at base, apex short acuminate and incurvate, subglabrous and green on both sides.
Scape ca. 70 cm long, ca 0.8-1.3 cm in diameter, rigid, erect, sulcate, distinctly longer than the leaves, red, glabrous;
Scape bracts suberect to near spreading, apex distinctly recurvate, red, concealing the scape, the basal ones subfoliaceous, longer than the internodes, the upper ones 3-6 cm long, suborbiculate, apex acuminate or subacute and apiculate, equaling or surpassing the internodes.
Inflorescence short-paniculate, subdensely bipinnate, 20-30 cm long, 20-30 cm in diameter, erect;
Primary bracts orbiculate, obtuse and short-apiculate, ca. 3 cm long, ca. 3 cm wide, red, equaling the sterile bases of the branches;
Branches ca. 7 cm wide (excluding the petals), subspreading, sometimes slightly secund and decurved, subdensely flowered, the lateral ones 4-11, 10-15 cm long, with 13-16 flowers, peduncle ca. 3 cm long; ca. 0.5 cm diameter, thick, the terminal one ca. 20 cm long;
Rachis geniculate, glabrous sulcate, greenish, 5 mm in diameter;
Floral bracts orbiculate, ca. 3 cm long, apex obtuse, distinctly concave, gibbous near the base, sulcate, subcoriaceous, ecarinate, red (photos show yellow as does Grant’s differential in A. heloisae!), inconspicuously lepidote inside, not imbricate after anthesis, enfolding the sepals and slightly shorter to equaling them.
Flowers distichous, not secund, near spreading, ca. 3.5 cm long (excluding the petals),
Pedicels stout, slightly complanate, ca. 6 mm long, ca. 8 mm in diameter;
Sepals slightly asymmetric, obovate, rounded, ca. 30 mm long, ca. 17 mm wide, glabrous, free, ecarinate, yellow;
Petals known only by immature or depauperate segments, apex narrowly obtuse, bearing two obovate, obtuse appendages at base;
Stamens ca. 70 mm long;
Anthers linear, ca. 13 mm long, base and apex obtuse, fixed near the base.
Closely related to Vriesea geniculata, from the Organ Mountains of Rio de Janeiro State, this new species presents the following differences: shorter leaves; smaller inflorescence despite the very long scape; branches few in number; primary bracts equaling the sterile bases of the branches; floral bracts almost equaling the sepals; sepals slightly asymmetric, and petals with obtuse appendages.
Vriesea nahoumii was named after one of its collectors, Pedro Ivo Nahoum who has been contributing notably to the preservation of local bromeliads by means of developing many activities related to plant propagation.