Mark Supple 27/09/12
I see a problem straight away, the one on the left is a pup still attached to mum the other is either a seedling or a small pup taken off the mother plant.
Chris Larson 27/09/12
We imported both of Pauls forms of Enano - from memory Enano Red & Enano - not really sure what the difference is. They burned in quarantine when the fans went off - power blackout - lost almost the lot - and then someone condensed the trays, mixing them up. So ours are from PTI III and are very similar to the larger one in Bruce's photo - they grow at a reasonable size on the mother or not. I've seen Derek's & I think it is smaller, nearly as small as Lotte's small clone. There is a slight difference in the PTI Enanos we have left but not much - though I don't know if we lost all of one clone, or not.
Bruce Dunstan 28/09/12
When UD sent me the plant he suggested that I was young and could conduct the experiment over time.
I'll give it another 12 months or so and see how they are doing comparatively. I must say that the bulk of my latifolias are giants in comparison to both of these little forms.
Tillandsia ‘Minima Latifolia’ by Derek Butcher 11/2014
(See T. Minima Latifolia this web site)
In 1982 I imported a plant from Karel Knize called T. latifolia minima and it was indeed very small. I was aware of Tillandsia ‘Enano’ from the Bromeliad Cultivar Register 1998 and named by Paul Isley and assumed my plant was the same. Note here that ‘Enano’ is from the Spanish for dwarf and if it had been ‘Enana’ which from the Latin would mean ‘not dwarf’! Over the years I kept seeing plants from Isley being grown in Australia that were bigger than mine. What was happening? Was my plant unique? Certainly the plants called ‘Enano’ were much bigger than the 6 cm high quoted in the BCR. Height is difficult to define on a caulescent plant and did it include inflorescence?
There is a slight twist in that there are, according to Paul Isley, two forms of ‘Enano Latifolia’ with nothing official as to the difference. If we refer to New Tillandsia Handbook 1998 by Hiroyuki Takisawa on page 67 we see ‘Enano Red form’ for a fairly large caulescent plant said to have reddish leaves so I am a bit confused! If we read Isley’s Tillandsia book 1987 page 70 we see ‘There is a slightly different form of Tillandsia latifolia ‘Enano’ (now ‘Enano Latifolia’). It is similar in size and appearance but it is found in a different geographical location. The blades are broader – often 2 cm in diameter. Also, the plant is browner and lighter in color.’
Back to ‘Minima’ which for me flowers at 10cm high including flower and with leaves 4 cm long. In 2011 I sent an offset to Bruce Dunstan who flowered this in 2014 and came up with the same size as mine. It seems sufficiently different to be called ‘Minima Latifolia’.
Botanists show us a wide ranging forms and sizes and although it is fairly easy to identify the species, T. latifolia, it is very difficult to identify the varieties and to pore through the many synonyms. Nurserymen, namely Dennis Cathcart and Paul Isley have named 7 forms but not formally registered them and the garnered descriptions in the BCR are somewhat vague. We can only use photos as a guide to identification. There are also pet names used that are also difficult to identify like Knize’s T. skinneri !
