Tillandsia Chilpancingo
Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Tillandsia Chilpancingo
Not yet published species, or natural hybrid ?, hybrid?. T. chilpancingo
In Australian collections under various spellings.
Proposed to be stored in BCR as T. 'Chilpancingo'.
Peter Tristram 11/17 as T. capitata from Chilpancingo ex. Renate Ehlers
Drawing by W. Weber 1986, T. chilpancingo leg. Wülfinghoff
Chris Larson 10/20
Peter Tristram ... "In my last German import Renate Ehlers sent me some plants from the capitata group. Unfortunately the labels were all fragile so the exporter relabelled them as T. capitata, with a number... except I was never to receive the code! What I did know was that her proposed T. chilpanzingoensis was included and a current blooming confirms which plants were it, after checking the dvd. So here’s another to add to the capitata basket, and not the last!
Below is some Google-translated history. Interesting read. Renate proposed the name T. chilpanzingoensis, z not c, and wrote the description. Weber’s drawing is also attached. I wonder if Pam has visited the site? Different enough?
Chris Larson ... "Still NYP. T.chilpanzingoensis / T. Chilpancingo. Probably around 600 m alt. Mine has coloured up better than Peter's photo - but mine is probably a pup from that plant. Imagine what it could be like out in the full sun up north.
Probably best to stick with the cv name for now. Looks like the plant comes from around 600m alt SW of Mexico City in Guerrero."

Bob Reilly 11/20
Bob Reilly ... "Tillandsia chilpuncingoensis (NYP) aff. capitata
Attached are two photos of this plant, which I obtained from Peter Tristram. I took Peter's advice and placed it in a spot where it is receiving a lot of light. As a result, the leaves are starting to turn red.
The plant is in a 125 mm pot, to give you some idea of its size."

Prehistory............ (from Renate Ehlers).
Already in 1986 I got a plant from Rudolf Wülfinghoff. The label read: T. aff. capitata, Chilpancingo - Chilapa on a vertical wall about 1100 m s. m.
In May 1986 I got a visit from Wilhelm Weber from Waldsteinberg in the former GDR. Since he suffered from a serious illness, he got an exit permit to visit Stuttgart. We were very busy with the plants in my collection and he made very good drawings of many interesting plants, of which I still have a number.
On May 7, 1986, he drew the plant of Mr. Wülfinghoff, which unfortunately had just faded, but he depicted all the details except the petals very well and true to life.
In 1990 I came to this area with my husband Klaus and two friends and was able to collect and study the plant myself.
EM90050, 5.4.1990, Zopilote-Canon, 50 km before Chilpancingo, over riverbed to rock.
EM040901, 12.2.2004 Milpilas.
EM05230, 4.3.2005, Chilpancingo Mex 95, km 184, Puente Plan de Libre, 600 m. Flower details glued in the car.
EM060901 12.2.2004 Zumbago-Plan de libre 552 m

Journey 11.2.2006 with Jürgen Lautner, Manfred Kretz, Günther Noller and Wolfgang Schindhelm:
We drove over Chilpancingo to Zumbago and stayed there.
On the 12th of February we drove from Zumbago towards Iguala. At Plan de libres at an altitude of 552 km we stopped at the river and collected the T. EM060901. Took a lot of photos of the plants growing on the river bank on low rocks."

Derek Butcher ... "Peter, you have solved a problem that has been there since 2005! In the NYP (Not Yet Published) section of my disk I have T. chilpanzingoensis description and Kohres photos!
BUT the photos do not match the description! The photos that DO match the description are under section T. capitata Mex chilpancingo. I intend to move the photos under the T. capitata section to NYP and amend Renate's spelling to T. chilpancingoensis. Just to make things interesting there is/was a T. chilpanzingoensis whose details are attached!
You will have noticed that where Renate had not published but the plants are being grown in Australia, I have put them in the BCR so at least we have something to refer to. You may consider this option and use T. 'Chilpancingo'."

Email chain discussing this plant, from Derek Butcher & others.
Tillandsia 'Chilpanzingoensis' nomen nudum
To: Lieselotte Hromadnik, Subject: Fwd: Re: AW: T. chilpanzingo (fwd), Cc: Renate, Timm Stolten, Lieselotte, Renate and Timm.
As you know I don't like unfinished business. I intend to put the following into the Bromeliad Cultivar Register. (Eventually put on to the species data base on fcbs.org)
Similar plants have been found in the vicinity of this place in Guerrero, Mexico by both Ernst Zecher and Lydia Koehres on separate occasions. It appears to be a natural hybrid but parentage cannot even be guessed. It resembles a T. nidus but with pale green petals. As at 2006 no taxonomic work is envisioned. photo fcbs.org
Because both Zecher and Koehres have this plant I feel sure it will soon be distributed under this name. I feel that something needs to be recorded in case the Mexican botanists come across it and name it under the ICBN rules.
Comments please. Derek

Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2005
To: "Lieselotte Hromadnik" From: derek butcher
Subject: Re: AW: T. chilpanzingo (fwd)
Lieselotte:
Could you ask Zecher what he knows about this plant from Chilpanzingo. As you say, it is reminiscent of T. nidus with different coloured petals.
Derek

From Lieselotte, 4/10/2005
To: Derek and Renate
I wonder why this plant is supposed to be a hybrid of T. ilseana???? If yes, the only putative second parent could be (for me) T. ionantha. For me it looks very much like T. x nidus except of the green flowers.
T. ilseana looks completely different, and if the plant is really native from this region, there are -as Renate writes- enough other possible "parents" (there are for instance, several places with T. capitata). I never have seen this plant in the Zecher collection.
Lieselotte

From: Derek Butcher, 04/10/2005 : T. chilpanzingo (fwd)
Renate & Lieselotte
It looks like there is already more than one plant in circulation and will be called 'Chilpanzingo' with nobody having a clue about collection details. This is one reason why I have set up a natural hybrid data base where information can be entered even though the plant will not be formally described and named. Would Zecher be interested in supplying data? Can you guess parentage?
Derek

From Renate Ehlers 3/10/2005
No, I will not do anything with this plant from Lydia. It seems to be just an other hybrid. Lydia got the plant from Zecher, Vienna, who collected it. In this area there seem to be quite a number of hybrids, like these of T. ilseana. In the area is T. bourgaei, T. tixtlaensis (not yet published), T. setacea, T. pentasticha, T. prodigiosa, T. achyrostachys.
Renate

From Derek Butcher 3/10/2005
Renate
Thanks. Looks like another schiedeana hybrid. Why is the centre colouring up? What others are going to be found near T. ilseana? Is this the only one found? Are you going to add it to your many others waiting to be named and published?
Keep being curious.
Derek

From: G. Koehres 2/10/2005
Subject: AW: T. chilpanzingo
Hallo Renate,
Lydia hat gerade eine Pflanze in Blute aus der Umgebung von Chilpanzingo, ist das Till. ilseae ? die Frau von Ernst Zecher.
Beste Grusse
Gerhard

Updated 28/11/20