A clone of (aeranthos x leonamiana). A robust beauty to 6 inches tall with stiff, purplish-green, silver lepidote, upright, recurving leaves. Lavender flowers and bicolor pink bracts are borne on a 4 inch scape. Very easy to grow.
A hybrid of brachycaulos x ionantha. A 5 inch plant with leaves in an upright rosette, flushing bright red when in bloom. Many purple flowers are borne on a short scape. An excellent, easy to grow plant that was hybridized back in the 1950’s by Mulford Foster, but that also occurs naturally in Mexico.
A cultivar of (ionantha v. vanhyningii x ionantha ‘Druid’) by Bill Timm. A plant that can resemble the ionantha v. vanhyningii parent with thick leaves on a caulescent stem or can be more upright. The leaves blush reddish with blue flowers at anthesis. A nice hybrid that forms clusters of plants.
An unusual cross of (baileyi x achryostachys) by Patterson. An upright rosette with few leaves, about 12 inches tall. The foliage is narrow, fairly soft and silvery. A simple inflorescence is lanceolate in shape, mostly green but tinted pink.
A showy hybrid of (capitata ‘Red’ x ionantha v. stricta) by Bill Timm. A nice plant about 6 to 8 inches tall that strongly resembles the ionantha parent with many narrow leaves in an upright, flaring, rosette. Green until blooming, when it blushes bright red.
A hybrid of (mallemontii x duratii) by M. Patterson in Australia, it’s a pretty good combination of the two parents. Tillandsia duratii is a robust plant with a long stem and curling leaves, rootless in the adult form and producing a long, branched inflorescence with fragrant purple flowers. Tillandsia mallemontii is a plant with fine leaves, forming a tangled ball with many plants. The slender inflorescence is un-branched and produces a large, fragrant, purple flower.
The hybrid ‘Wonga’ looks more like a skinny duratii with many curly leaves and a long, branching inflorescence. The stunning thing though is that the flowers of both parents are very fragrant and those of ‘Wonga’ are not!
This plant was imported in the early 1980s from Guatemala and came in mixed with Tillandsia caput-medusae. When this plant flowered it was obvious to us that it was a hybrid and we consulted with Harry Luther who agreed that it was likely a caput-medusae x brachycaulos natural hybrid. Until 2013 we had been growing this plant under that name.
I recently submitted a photo of it to Derek Butcher and Geoffrey Lawn of the Hybrid Registry and Derek wrote me back saying “You have the original T. brachycaulos var multiflora see attached. However the botanists decided it was a natural hybrid which I maintain should be in alpha order because you do not know mother thus brachycaulos x caput-medusae. So we are in a quandary.
Under ICBN rules your plant has a ‘name’. I am suggesting we stretch the rules and under the ICNCP rules call your plant ‘Zacapa‘ linking it to the Lyman Smith variety and thus the Field herb specimen.” And so we are. This plant has grown much larger under cultivated conditions and maintains a nice coloration. A choice plant.
