Neoregelia lilliputiana Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Neoregelia lilliputiana
Species.
Ian Hook, Sydney 02/04.
Ian Hook, Sydney 05/06, BSA Autumn Show.
See Detective Derek 06/06: for discussion of this plant.
Photo by Derek Butcher.
Neoregelia lilliputiana by Uncle D - the Cultivar Detective
This all started with a dispute as to what this species looks like at a recent Australian Bromeliad Society Show in Sydney but Ken Woods wanted to seek clarification. It is a good job he did because we have loads of information for you to digest.
First, most of us think we know what this species looks like. It was first described in 1974 by Pereira and I wonder how many of you have checked your plant against the description especially length of petal. To my mind it is a small form of Neoregelia ampullacea and if you compare the description of both species there is very little difference. Remember that N. ampullacea was described by Morren in 1885 and nobody knew where it actually came from. Subsequent findings up to 1960 consolidated the opinion of Lyman Smith as to its description given in Flora Neotropica in 1979. Plants collected since that date have also been allocated this name without amending Smith's description. So it is a difficult area to be dogmatic in.
Was the plant concerned the hybrid Neoregelia 'Lillipet'? This was alleged to be a hybrid between ampullacea and lilliputiana but a quick check of the cultivar Register shows 'Lillipet' having a reddish look about it suggesting another parent was involved somewhere. Ken decided to bite the bullet and contact Grace Goode who was the hybridist. Grace pointed out she had crossed a N. punctatissima with lilliputiana to get 'Night Spot'. A quick check of the Cultivar Register will show a plant looking more like an N. ampullacea than the small N. lilliputiana. Here I must add that the N. punctatissima has been misidentified for years and is really yet another form of N. ampullacea. This is now covered in the Cultivar Register by using the name Neoregelia 'Punctate'. Ken also found out that the parents of N. 'Lillipet' are N. lilliputiana x 'Rose Marie' and not lilliputiana x 'Strawberry Cup' as advised to the Registrar in 1994. This small correction is easily made. However there is a sister to 'Lillipet' namely 'Lullaby' that is out there somewhere and if anyone has this plant I would love to get a photo for the records.
There is a similar problem with 'Night Spot' which has a sister called 'Flare Up' and if anyone has this plant the same plea applies.
Is there a moral to this story? To my mind, if in doubt regarding identification of a species contact me and I will send the description. If a hybrid check the Cultivar Register on http://fcbs.org or Cultivar Corner on http://BSI.org and look at photos. If you do not have Internet access ask someone who has.
Neoregelia lilliputiana E. Pereira, Bradea 1: 383, pl. 1. 1974.
This new species differs from all other Neoregelias in its very small size (reason for the name), the fleshy leaves which for this reason do not form with its base the usual water containing recipient and in many details shown in the illustration of the flowers.
Desc. from S&D Plant propagating by pendulous, 5 cm long stolons, stolon scales appressed, triangular-acute, paleaceous, densely nerved, brown-punctulate. Leaves ca. 8-10 in a long rosette, 5 cm long; Sheaths barely distinct or forming a tank, white-lepidote; Blades reflexed, linear, subrounded and mucronate, 15 mm wide, white-lepidote but soon glabrous, purple-banded beneath, purple-spotted above, channeled, minutely denticulate. Scape 8 mm long; scape-bracts triangular, mucronate, 10 mm long, 5 mm wide, purplish. Inflorescence simple, 6-8-flowered. Floral bracts linear, acuminate, 14 mm long, exceeding the ovary, entire; Pedicels 2 mm long. Sepals slightly asymmetric, lanceolate, acuminate, 13 mm long, connate 3 mm, purplish, glabrous; Petals 28 mm long, connate 20 mm, narrowly rhombic, acuminate, violet; Ovary 3 mm long; epigynous tube 1 mm high; ovules obtuse. Type. Kautsky 409 (holotype, HB 60152), Domingos Martins, Espirito Santo, Brazil, 3 Sep 1973. Distribution. Known from the type collection only.
