Alcantarea ‘Raymond Golden Brown’ (aka PAF0975)
Description by P Franklin 11/2006
Similar to A. extensa except for:
- Leaves short, broad and rounded (not ligulate and acute).
- Blades scurfy and banded all over (not smooth and glabrous).
- Blackish leaf tips (not known in extensa).
- Inflorescence branches straight (not geniculate).
- Petals golden/brown (not known in extensa).
- Petals 100-110mm long (80mm in extensa).
[A. extensa description as per Smith & Downs as Vr. extensa. Vol2 pl261]
Plant: Dense rosette flowering 1.8m high.
Leaf Sheaths: Dark brown. 170mm wide.
Leaf Blade: 130mm wide. 500mm long. Scurfy with broad white bands. Broad rounded blades. Green.
Folded-under leaf tips. Maroon.
Scape: stout 25-30mm diameter. Maroon
Scape Bracts: Subfoliaceous, imbricate, cup-shaped, folded-over tip. Lower green with maroon tips. Upper wholely maroon.
Inflorescence: 800mm high. Bipinnate, spreading. 12 side branches 400mm long. Ultimate branch erect, tilted and slightly sigmoid. Main stem maroon, side branches green/yellow.
Primary Bracts: Much shorter than the sterile part of branch. Like upper scape bracts. 3 sterile bracts per branch. ~16 flowers per branch.
distichous in left/right/left/right pattern up the branch, not geniculate.
Floral Bracts: Yellow, retuse, shorter than the sepals. 35-40mm long.
Sepals: 40-45mm long, yellow.
Petals: 100-110mm long, thin, twisted, recurved. Gold colour tending to brown.
Stamen: Equal to exceeding petals. Erect at first then flaccid with age.