Rohan Wilkes 11/20

Rohan Wilkes 11/20 T. fosteri

Rohan Wilkes ... "From Peter Tristram back in November 2014. I've chosen to leave the T. fosteri tag on as there seems to be distinct differences in descriptions to T. demissa."
Greg Aizlewood ... "Well done Rohan, not an easy one to grow and not often seen."

Peter Tristram 04/23 "demissa" ex Vienna BG

Peter Tristram 05/23 "demissa" ex Vienna BG

Peter Tristram 04/23 ... "Labelled demissa, ex Vienna BG as a tiny pup. I have imported many plants as demissa but this baby is looking promising. Updates to come."
Peter Tristram 05/23 ... "Here's an update on a couple of downward heading, large Tills. The Mexican yutaninoensis has a long way to go, whereas the Ecuadorean demissa (to be confirmed, though looking good for a match) has accelerated with the milder weather (even got down to 12 a week ago) and should produce flowers soon. I will be sending a sample of the demissa to Michael Barfuss for dna analysis (along with some others). Vienna BG will have its provenance too. I am assuming the Mexican species is correctly named as it was gifted to me by Juergen Lautner.
Of interest is the contentious T. fosteri, now put back into demissa. I think this needs to be revisited. It will be interesting to see what the dna analysis of samples reveals. Add Lotte's 'demissa' from one of my early trips into the mix as well!"

Tillandsia fosteri Gilmartin, Phytologia 16: 157.1968. Made synonymous with T. demissa in Flora Ecuador 1993

Plant flowering 15 dm high with the inflorescence extended.
Leaves rosulate, 45-55 cm long;
Sheaths ovate, 17-20 cm long, 8-10 cm wide, densely appressed-lepidote, purple in part;
Blades ligulate, acute, 60-75 mm wide, glabrous on both faces, purple-blotched.
Scape stout, decurved, much exceeded by the leaves;
Scape-bracts foliaceous, very densely imbricate.
Inflorescence pendent, bipinnate, lax, 65 cm long, glabrous;
Primary bracts spreading, the lowest subfoliaceous and exceeding the axillary branches;
Spikes lanceolate from a short sterile bracteate base, acute or some (pathological?) caudate with several apical sterile flowers, strongly complanate, 9-10 cm long, 20-25 mm wide.
Floral bracts imbricate and doubtless concealing the rhachis at anthesis, elliptic, acute, 27-30 mm long, coriaceous, mostly smooth and lustrous, carinate.
Sepals elliptic, acute, 21-25 mm long, nerved, densely lepidote within, the posterior carinate, connate for 2-3 mm;
Petals ca 35 mm long.
Capsules about equaling the floral bracts.
Type.. Foster 2625 (holotype US), on ledges, Ona to Saraguro, ca 2400 m alt, Loja, Ecuador, 4 Dec 1948.
DISTRIBUTION. Known from the type collection only.

Tillandsia demissa by Werner Rauh in JBS 37(4): 168. 1987

Tillandsia demissa L.B. Smith (1954)
A striking Tillandsia of southern Ecuador, known only from the region of Ona to Saraguro (Prov. Loja), is the saxicolous Tillandsia demissa. It grows only on steep rock walls and we collected it near Saraguro.
Tillandsia demissa has short but thick, rhizomatous stems, covered with remains of the old leaves, which bear a big rosette of 80-100 cm high and 1.5 m in diameter (Fig. 9).
Leaves many, 90-120 cm long, mostly erect; the elder hanging down.
Sheaths inconspicuous, ample, up to 30 cm long, 10-15 cm wide, brown lepidote.
Blades ligulate, acute-attenuate, 50-120 cm long, 8-11 cm wide, flat, green, gray-waxy, obscurely punctulate-lepidote with some purple mottling.
Inflorescence pendent.
Scape decurved, short, hidden in the rosette.
Scape bracts densely imbricate and subfoliaceous, erect.
Inflorescence up to 1.2 m long, 12-15 cm in diameter, densely bipinnate, cylindrical (Fig. 10), with it's 35 erect spikes.
Primary bracts broadly ovate, up to 20 cm long, 5 cm wide, erect, green to wine¬red, gray-waxy, the basal ones with a foliaceous blade, longer than the spikes; the upper ones only acute-attenuate and mostly shorter than the spikes. The latter 12-16 cm long, 3-3.5 cm wide, erect, strongly complanate, densely 8-to 17-flowered, with a short, sterile base.
Floral bracts suborbicular, 3.2 cm long, 3 cm wide, equaling the sepals, carinate, with an acute and incurved apex, wine-red and gray-waxy.
Sepals free, the posterior carinate, 30 mm long, elliptic, obtuse, glabrous beneath, densely lepidote above, yellowish green.
Petals 4.5 cm long, erect, violet.
Stamens and style included.
This big Tillandsia, of which young plants are very attractive because of the gray-waxy leaves, is known only from the Cuenca-Loje region of southern Ecuador.
Our collection number is: Rauh 35 209/a, June 1980.