Tillandsia Queen's Charm Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Originally listed as Tillandsia Queen's Tears with reverse parentage. caput-medusae x ehlersiana
From BCR: 'Queen's Tears' - Medium-sized bulbous rosette with semi-scurfed lepidote leaves. Digitate inflorescence with purple flowers. May sometimes have been sold under reverse parentage Reg. Doc. 9/2012.
California USA, Koide Hyatt P 1988, Bird Rock Tropicals # TX271
Chris Larson 08/13, as caput-medusae x ehlersiana Nat.Hyb.
Peter Tristram 08/13 as ehlersiana x caput-medusae
Peter Tristram ... "This is the plant I obtained many moons ago that Harry suggested could be ehlersiana x caput-medusae. I also have one suggested to be ehlersiana x streptophylla that has been discussed many times. I think both came from Pam with my original ehlersiana imports (before the publication of the species from memory). I don’t think either could have been man-made as ehlersiana had only just been discovered."
(Ed. it is normal to list natural hybrid supposed parents alphabetically, as which is Mother/Father is unknown.) Tillandsia Queen's Charm ehlersiana x caput-medusae by Pamela Koide Hyatt 1988, California.
From BCR: Medium-sized bulbous rosette with semi-scurfed lepidote leaves. Digitate inflorescence with purple flowers. May sometimes have been sold under reverse parentage.
Pamela Hyatt 05/20
Pamela Hyatt ... "I believe the hybrid TX271 you have been discussing is T. Queen's Charm. Here are the details:
TX271 = T. Queen's Charm which is my hybrid:
Cross - # 124
date made - 7/10/1988
seed harvested - 7/10/1990 & 7/15/1990
pollen parent - Tillandsia caput-medusae
seed parent- Tillandsia ehlersiana
It is very likely that the plant that Peter acquired from me was labeled T. caput-medusae X ehlersiana. The reason for this is that my log entries, when I made hybrids, I listed the pollen donor first, then the recipient. As plants grew and we began labeling them, they were labeled just as they were entered into the cross book. So in the early years, some plants were sold with reverse parentage. I suspect that is how Peter's plant was labeled. Date - - - - Cross # - - - - Donor - - - - Recipient - - - - Harvested
7/10/88 - - - 124 - - - caput medusae - - - ehlersiana - - - 7/10/90 7/15/90
9/19/89 - - - 825 - - - caput medusae - - - ehlersiana
- I have gone through all my records and cannot find any notes that indicate that it may have been a natural hybrid that I found when discovering Tillandsia ehlersiana. There were other natural hybrids that I found growing in this same locality - T. ehlersiana X streptophylla (now named T. Lucille), T. ehlersiana X schiedeana (now named T. Peltry Jellyfish) and T. ehlersiana X seleriana (not yet named).
- I made the hybrid in 1988, and found T. ehlersiana in 1981. So it was not too early to make the hybrid, as the T. ehlersiana that were found were mature plants.
- Yes, I think that Pachara Orchids image is correct, just lacking in color. The inflorescence is digitate.
- My T. Queen's Charm are currently in bloom, see attached. Notice the difference in size, some are giant, some are small." Chris Larson ... "The larger form certainly is nice.
Thanks for that. I have one that is very small as T. Queen's Charm that I imported I think in 2008. My T. Queens Charm is almost identical to one of the plants Peter Tristram imported in the original T. ehlersiana first release batches in the 80s. We are figuring that this would likely be one of the natural hybrids you described in that article when you found the locality. Do you think that this would be so?"
