Tillandsia dura Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Tillandsia dura
Ken Woods 10/07
Ken Woods Large form
Ken Woods 06/09
Bruce Dunstan 04/22 Large form
Bruce Dunstan 04/22 Large form
Tillandsia dura Baker, Handb. Bromel. 168. 1889. Tillandsia linearis sensu Wawra, Osterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 30: 221. 1880; non Vellozo, 1825.
Desc from S&D p791 Plant flowering 2-4 dm long; roots present even in age; stem almost always simple, from very short to 14 cm long. Leaves very numerous, polystichous, strict or somewhat arching and often secund, 15-23 cm long, densely and finely appressed-lepidote, subglabrous above with age, chestnut-brown for all the sheath and much of the blade, the remainder gray-green when dry; Sheaths ovate, scarcely more than 1 cm long, passing into the blade; Blade narrowly triangular, to 11 mm wide but usually much narrower, subulate-attenuate, rigid. Scape distinct but usually much covered by the leaves, terminal, slender, erect or ascending; Scape-bracts densely imbricate, ovate, thin, densely and finely appressed-lepidote, the median and basal ones with stiff foliaceous blades. Inflorescence always simple and distichous-flowered, linear, acute, strongly complanate, 7-13 cm long, 10-14 mm wide, 14-26-flowered; Rhachis slightly geniculate, sulcate, angled, excavated next the flowers, glabrous. Floral bracts erect, strongly imbricate, often 3 times the length of the internodes, but so narrow as partially to expose the rhachis, ovate, acute, apiculate, 17-20 mm long, exceeding the sepals, subchartaceous, strongly nerved, densely appressed-lepidote toward apex, grooved at base, rounded or carinate toward apex, straight or slightly incurved; Flowers subsessile. Sepals free or equally short-connate or at times the posterior ones connate for about half their length, 8-11 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, strongly nerved, glabrous, the posterior ones carinate; Petals ligulate, blue, 17 mm long; Stamens included; anthers linear, acute, 5 mm long, dorsifixed 1/4-3/5 of their length from the base; pistil exceeding the stamens; Ovary slenderly ovoid. Type. Glaziou 16460 (holotype K, GH photo), Pico da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara, Brazil.
DISTRIBUTION. Epiphytic in rainforest, from near sea level to 800 m alt, southeastern Brazil.
BRAZIL. GUANABARA: Bico do Papagaio, Tijuca, 7 Jun 1879, Glaziou 11689 (P); Tijuca, May 1897, Ule 4172 (CORD, HBG); 22 Mar 1929, L. B. Smith 2126 (B, GH, S); Serra da Carioca, 19 Nov 1928, L. B. Smith 1280 (BM, F, GH, K, US); Morro do Archer, 28 Aug 1946, Brade & Duarte 18576 (RB); Sumare, 12 Mar 1967, Pereira 10566 (HB, US). SAO PAULO: Solo Vicente, Santos, 20 Apr 1875, Mosen 3716 (S); Ribeirolo Pires, 28 JuI 1894, Edwall in Herv. G. & G. de S. Paulo 2564 (GH, SP); Alto da Serra, 17 Feb 1929, L. B. Smith & King 1933 (GH); Santo Amaro, Solo Paulo, 17 Jul 1942, Krieger 176 (SP). SANTA CATARINA: Piloes, Palhoca, 13 Dec 1951, Reitz 4259 (HBR, US); 14 Mar 1952, L. B. Smith 6207 (R, US); 6215-A (R, RB, US); 29 Nov 1956, L. B. Smith & Klein 7994 (HBR, R, US).
