Tillandsia Bob's Amigo
remake of T. Amigo (Arden)

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Tillandsia Amigo
jalisco-monticola x rothii, J.Arden 1984.
From BCR ... "Large rosette over 2' diameter with long tapered greyish-green leaves becoming red and arching near the scape - inflorescence to 2' tall with densely-clustered panicle of 6+ inflated ovoid branches with bright red floral bracts near base becoming greenish yellow margined with red from midpoint to apex - pale flowers."

Tillandsia Bob's Amigo
jalisco-monticola x rothii by Bob Hudson.
From BCR ... "A possible remake of T. 'Amigo' Reg Doc 4/2013 Fasciculata Group. Country of origin: Australia"

T. Bob's Amigo, Bruce Dunstan 02/13
T. Bob's Amigo, Bob Hudson
Bruce Dunstan ... "T. Amigo seedling from Bob Hudson, just starting to flower. I have seen an Amigo from Thailand that looks very similar to this seedling. The cyclone knocked the larger of the seedlings off the bench and destroyed some of the inflo so this is the smaller seedling in all its glory." (Ed. Now T. Bob's Amigo)

Chris Larson 04/18. lost label, straight rothii?
Chris Larson 04/18, ex. Bob Hudson.
Bruce Dunstan 04/21 Bob's Amigo
Chris Larson ... "Here’s a plant that hasn’t had a tag for quite a number of years. I have thought for quite some time it is T. Bob’s Amigo. But it seems like a straight T. rothii. Any opinions?"
Chris Larson ... "This one had one of Bob’s printed tags with T. Bob’s Amigo on it. It was in our display at the recent Melbourne Int. Flower & Garden Show. Unfortunately it isn’t in as good condition after a hurried pack up. However the top of the spike seemed to be affected by heat at an earlier time."



Tillandsia 'Bob's Amigo' by Bruce Dunstan in Bromeliaceae 47:12-13. 2013
I received my plants from the sales area of the Australian conference in 2009. Bob Hudson had made the hybrid cross of Tillandsia jalisco-monticola X Tillandsia rothii at his home in Cairns in 2003 sowing the seed in 2004.
John Arden originally did this cross in 1984 and the plants were grown and sold by Pam Koide-Hyatt from the famous Bird Rock Tropicals.
When I got the small plants home, I took them straight off the wooden mounts they were attached to and potted them up into a coarse pine bark mix with plenty of controlled release fertiliser. The plants grew rapidly and continued to get bigger and bigger no doubt showing the larger characteristics of T. jalisco-monticola which can grow to a large size.
A couple of years ago I transferred the plants to a media of 7-12mm Diatomite to ensure even better drainage as some of the plants had appeared to rot out and lose their centers during the cooler winter weather coupled with irrigation every day. This proved to be a bonus as the plants recovered and pupped prolifically some producing 3-4 pups each. I went from having 3 to having 10. This year 2 of the largest plants have flowered and produced very tall impressive inflorescences. When showing images to other Tillandsia enthusiasts we wondered if the parentage used in Bob's cross was the same as John Arden used all those years ago as the two plants looked a little different. The image of the 'Amigo' on the BCR register site showed beautiful red coloured foliage that could be attributed to the rothii side of the cross as well as quite a compact branching habit. Pam tended to grow her plants hard without the heavy feeding regime I subject my plants to which may explain some of the differences.
After enquiries Bob told us he used a large multi paddled form of T. jalisco-monticola sourced from Neville Ryan, ruling out the potential for the newly described T. magnispica being a parent as it was known as T. jalisco-monticola 'small clone' back in those days.
There are differences in the two plants and I put some of it down to varying growing conditions and nutrition. I have seen some other Amigos from Bird Rock that have been grown in Thailand under more tropical conditions and they do look much closer to my plants than the BCR Birdrock plant.
Derek Butcher has suggested, as this plant is a remake of a registered hybrid we should consider calling it ‘Bob's Amigo’ as it allows us to convey that it isn't a plant of the original cross but something very similar. Derek also mentioned to me that T. rothii is thought to be a hybrid itself with potential parents of T. jalisco-monticola and T. roland-gosselinii. Another little complication is that T. rothii can vary when they have been collected from nature. As many species vary in nature across their range and different forms are cultivated by individuals across the globe. We can't guarantee that a remake of a cross will produce the same progeny unless exactly the same parents are used and we must remember the dance of the chromosomes!


Updated 06/05/21