An impressive hybrid of Tillandsia fasciculata x ionantha by Mark Dimmitt. 

This plant is an apparent natural hybrid but we are reasonably certain that it is a cross of (riohondoensis x ionantha) that came in with a shipment of the former from Guatemala some years ago. We have been propagating it ever since. The plant has many narrow, velvety leaves in an upright vase shaped rosette. It can grow to over ten inches tall and wide with leaves about a half inch wide tapering to a point. The inflorescence is a capitate head of very tight branches on a short scape bearing long leaf-like bracts. The bracts blush pink at anthesis along with the upper whorl of leaves.

Overall the plant is silvery with a heavy coating of trichomes. The leaves are soft and graceful. We are naming this plant in honor of our dear friend Ruby Ryde of Australia. An avid bromeliad collector of many years with her late husband Keith and who has for years faithfully sent us a beautiful calendar of Australian nature each December. She is our ‘Calendar Girl’ and we are proud to have her as our friend!

This hybrid of (leonamiana x ixioides) is pretty much what you’d expect of this cross. An open rosette of narrow, arching, stiff leaves of silvery gray and an inflorescence that is tall and slender with a few short branches at the top, silver dusted orange bracts and yellow flowers. Easy, prolific and showy.

This plant is a bit of an enigma. It came to us years ago, on more than one occasion, mixed in with wild taken plants shipped as T. lenca (formerly fasciculata ‘Hondurensis’) from Honduras, of course. (That plant was recently given species status as Tillandsia lenca). That plant lives on cliff faces in central Honduras, often in association with the species Til. hondurensis.

Confused yet? Well, some years ago Steve Correale found a natural hybrid of the two species which was described and published as Til. x correalii. Presumably any combination of the two species would be considered an x correalii. T. x correalii has an inflorescence much more closely resembling that of its Tillandsia hondurensis parent. Our plant has a branched inflorescence, much more in line with T. lenca, but otherwise also appears to be a hybrid with hondurensis.

So, is this just a ‘branched form’ of x correalii or another natural hybrid deserving its own name? We are certainly in no position to make that decision, so we are choosing to give it a cultivar name to serve to keep them separate in the interim. Is this clear to you now? By the way, the name ‘Catracho’ is a nickname for the Honduran people. 

Bill Timm’s hybrid of Tillandsia ionantha ‘Druid’ x ionantha v. vanhyningii, looks pretty much like a large vanhyningii. If this plant had turned out with a yellow blush instead of red, more like the ‘Druid’ parent, then this would have been a show stopper. But alas it isn’t yellow, but it is still a very nice, compact and colorful plant as you can see by the photo.