MONTHLY RAFFLE PRIZE ROSTER:

OUR MARCH SALES DAY:
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our sales day at the Uniting Church Hall in Dapto on Saturday the 21st. Lots of willing helpers and plants and Noel’s instant auction also a welcome money raiser. Sharyn’s display was also lovely and something that she put together at very short notice. With more advance notice and time to organise things next year we hope that this might become a popular annual event.

CHANGE OF ROOM FOR OUR MAY MEETING:
Because our usual meeting room has been let out for another event in May we will switch to the Scribbly Gum Room which is located to the right of the main entry of the Dapto Ribbonwood Centre, with entry from the Princes Highway side of the building.

PROPOSED GARDEN VISITS – MID MAY:
Max is arranging garden visits for mid May and will have details available at our April and May meetings.

UPCOMING EVENTS :

FUTURE MEETINGS:
May 2, 2015: Topic - Billbergias - Max Williams
June 6, 2015: Topic - Preparing plants for winter - Neville Wood and Graham Bevan
July 4, 2015: Christmas in July! - Soup and Dessert

February 7, 2015: Plant Results

OPEN
1st = Jørgen Jakobsen = Vriesea ’Splenriet’
2nd = Steve Wain = Aechmea fasciata albomarginated
3rd = Jørgen Jakobsen = Hohenbergia correia-araujoi

NOVICE
1st = Lydia Chinnock = Portea petropolitana var. extensa
2nd = Lydia Chinnock = Orthophytum gurkenii
3rd = John Toolan = Neoregelia ‘Gold Fantasy’(?)

TILLANDSIA
1st= Steve Wain = capitata ‘Scarlet’
1st= Lydia Chinnock = cyanea
2nd= Ted Clare = streptophylla
3rd= Suzanne Burrows = streptophylla – Large form

March 7, 2015 PLANT RESULTS
OPEN
1st = Jørgen Jakobsen = Nidularium campos-portoi
2nd = Max Williams = Aechmea chantinii
3rd = Max Williams = Vriesea ‘Speckles’

NOVICE
1st = John Toolan = Neoregelia ‘Predator’
1st = John Toolan = Neoregelia ‘Bobby Dazzler’
2nd = John Toolan = Neoregelia ‘Purple Glaze’ (?)
2nd = Barbara Jones-Beverstock = Neoregelia ‘Lava’
3rd = John Toolan = * Neoregelia ‘Wurthmann’s Midnight’ *

TILLANDSIA
1st = Jørgen Jakobsen = cyanea

*Neoregelia ‘Wurthmann’s Midnight’:
This lovely very dark—almost black--hybrid with some light green speckling was formerly named Neoregelia ‘Voodoo’ Wurthmann, then N. ‘Midnight’ and, more recently, to differentiate it from another quite different plant of the same name (registered by Grace Goode in 1975), it has been amended to ‘Wurthmann’s Midnight’. The problem originally arose because there were two different hybrids of the same name—‘Voodoo’—and then there were two different hybrids named ‘Midnight’ and so we now have them listed in the Bromeliad Cultivar Register as Neoregelia ‘Elmore’s Voodoo’, N. ‘Goode’s Midnight’ and N. ‘Wurthmann’s Midnight’. Hopefully, this doubling up of names should not occur now because hybridists, with advanced technology, have access to an up-to-date Register.

LEARNING ABOUT THE GENERA: EDMUNDOA
By Graeme Barclay - Reprinted from Bromeliad, J. Bromeliad Society New Zealand Inc., June 2014 Vol. 54{6})

Edmundoa is a small, ornamental genus of the sub-family Bromelioideae and includes only three species. It is endemic solely to the Atlantic forest of Brazil and one of the more recent genera to be elevated to genus status. The most commonly cultivated member, Edmundoa lindenii, was formerly part of the genus Canistrum, but in the 1990s Brazilian bromeliad authority Elton Leme studied it in depth and concluded it was different in a number of ways to the other members of the Canistrum genus.

Around the same time he also studied and described two other species as Edmundoa ambigua and Edmundoa perplexa which shared similar characteristics to Edmundoa lindenii. Their descriptions were published in his 1997 book, ‘Canistrum, Bromeliads of the Atlantic Forest’, where he proposed the creation of the genus Edmundoa in honour of pioneering Brazilian botanist, Edmundo Pereira (1914-1986), who discovered and described many other Brazilian bromeliad species.

One of the differentiating morphological features of edmundoas is that they all have densely lanate inflorescence components, meaning many of the floral parts such as the scape, sepals and flower fascicles are covered in something resembling wool—whereas other Canistrum species do not. Also, members of Canistrum are essentially all vase-shaped, smallish plants, while the growth habit of edmundoas form a much larger, flatter rosette with wider leaves. It was therefore considered that Edmundoa is somewhat of an intermediate between Canistrum/Aechmea on the one hand and Nidularium on the other, thus deserving of its own place as a recognised genus.

All three Edmundoa species are normally found growing epiphytically on the lower half of tree trunks in coastal regions of the South-Eastern Atlantic forest at elevations around 400 metres and below. Edmundoa lindenii is also found growing terrestrially, and sometimes saxicolously (over rocks). They prefer shady, sheltered areas and will thrive in both warm and colder conditions.

As this genus is a small one, let’s take a closer look at all of the species involved.

Edmundoa lindenii var. lindenii was first collected in 1879 and described as Canistrum lindenii in 1891. The leaves are green with darker green mottled spots and very small, irregularly spaced spines. It grows to well over 75 cm in diameter in a broad, funnel-form rosette that flattens considerably when flowering occurs.
The inflorescence has creamy-white to green-tinged floral bracts, forming a basket-shape similar to canistrums. One peculiar feature of this plant is that normally the flower scape (stalk) is very short, holding the inflorescence just above the primary bracts and leaf rosette, while at other times it can be elongated up to 30cm, thus holding the inflorescence well above the plant. It has been noted by some growers that this ‘elongation’ often occurs only after very heavy rain, but when drier it is more low set. Edmundoa lindenii var. lindenii has been here in New Zealand since the early days of the BSNZ , but possibly more commonly cultivated now are the medio-picta variegated and albo-marginated cultivars, now registered as Edmundoa ‘Alvim Seidel’ {see note below—Ed.}.
Edmundoa lindenii var. rosea was also initially collected in the late 1870s and previously most commonly known as Canistrum lindenii var. roseum. It is simply a recognised variation of Edmundoa lindenii var. lindenii due to the different rose-pink colour of the floral bracts—hence the name var. (variety) rosea. Another difference is that the leaves often take on a bronzy, reddish hue, particularly in stronger light and they can also have fine red striated lines, mainly on the underside of the leaf sheaths.

There is a form known as Edmundoa lindenii ‘Bronze’ in circulation that has a distinct bronze/pink flush to the leaves, though it is not fully clear whether this is ONLY a rose-coloured flowering plant, or in fact also occurs in the white flower form. If anyone has a ‘Bronze’ plant with a white flower, please let me know. A variegated or albo-marginated form of Edmundoa lindenii var. rosea is also reputed to exist, though this has only been seen in Florida and is not known to have ever been in New Zealand or Australia.

Edmundoa ambigua was first discovered in 1973, classified as Nidularium ambiguum in the late 1980s, but properly described by Leme in 1997 and published as a member of Edmundoa. It also has green, slightly mottled leaves but is smaller than Edmundoa lindenii, only growing to around 60-70cm diameter. The inflorescence scape is normally always elongated and the floral bracts are rose-pink coloured and covered in scurfy indument (a covering of fine hair or scales).

Edmundoa perplexa was first collected in 1934, described as Canistrum perplexum in 1935, but again reclassified to Edmundoa in 1997. It is very similar in many ways to Edmundoa ambigua, except the diameter of the inflorescence is slightly larger and the primary bracts and leaf blades are much more serrated. Both of these lesser-known species are possibly not currently in New Zealand. Again, if you are growing either of them, please let me know.

Cultivation Tips
All forms of Edmundoa are excellent plants to grow in New Zealand as feature plants in either deep or light shade locations. They will form nice clumps if pups are left on them to develop, but look equally good if spaced apart in group plantings. One drawback is that the snails seem to often enjoy eating the lower leaves, so using slug bait around them is a good idea. Like many nidulariums they are cold-hardy and respond well to fertiliser to attain a larger size. They seem to also grow best when kept quite moist, otherwise leaf marking and browning off can occur if they become too dry.

NOTE: EDMUNDOA ‘ALVIM SEIDEL’ AND NOW EDMUNDOA ‘BRAZIL’ Addendum to the BCR 8/ 014 by Geoff Lawn, BSI Cultivar Registrar—reprinted from Far North Coast Bromeliad Study Group NSW newsletter September 2014.
“To avoid confusion, Geoff has decided to split the two variegated forms of Edmundoa lindenii (widely grown in USA and Australia at least) into two separate cultivar names.
The albo-marginated form will remain registered as Edmundoa ‘Alvim Seidel’. Grows to 1-1/2 metres, with white primary bracted inflorescence and white marginated foliage markings.
The green-leaved form with central yellow stripes and white bracts is registered as Edmundoa ‘Brazil’ to honour its origin. Mature rosettes to 1-1/2 metres (or more) diameter. Mid-green leaves mottled darker green, with greenish cream/yellow central stripes. Erect, short, nest-like inflorescence of white scape bracts and white petals.”

NIDULARIUM
(Reprinted from Wholesale Bromeliads of Australia Newsletter No. 17 – February 2015)

These beautiful bromeliads are often overlooked by collectors which is a pity because they are attractive, varied and wonderful for landscaping in shady conditions.

The genus Nidularium belongs to the sub-family Bromelioideae and was named in 1854 by Charles-Antoine Lemaire, a French botanist. The name is taken from the Latin ‘nidus’ meaning ‘nest’.
This is a small genus consisting of around 45 currently recognised species, all native to Eastern Brazil where they grow on the ground or on lower limbs of trees in shadowy, humid rainforests. There are around 54 registered hybrids.

Nidulariums usually have a flat to semi-erect rosette with a tank in the plant’s centre which stores a limited amount of water. They are compact, medium to large plants with mostly shiny, soft foliage and fine spines. They often have fragile, very soft leaves that are easily damaged by wind, insects or other broms. They vary in colour from lime green to dark purple and can be spotted, striped (longitudinal) or plain green.

A rosette of shortened inner leaves forms before flowering. The inflorescence has large, colourful primary bracts which often rise only slightly above the central leaves (e.g., Nidularium longiflorum). However, the stem can be taller placing it well above the central foliage (e.g., Nidularium procerum). The small, three-petaled flowers nestle in the bracts and are white, red, purple, blue, yellow or rose, depending on the species.

Temperature: They are tropical plants whose natural habitat is humid rainforests in Brazil. They prefer temperatures in the range of 12 C to 30 C and need protection in winter, particularly from frosts. They also need good air circulation so don’t crowd them in your shade house.

Light: They will tolerate the lowest light conditions of all bromeliads, but don’t put them into too dark a spot because the leaves will become strappy. During summer most like to be grown under 90% shadecloth, and 70% for the rest of the year. They adapt well to indoors as long as they get bright indirect light.

Fertiliser: Use a controlled release fertiliser that is higher in potassium for those with coloured leaves (e.g., Nidularium ‘Chantrieri’) and a more balanced nitrogen and potassium for those with green leaves. We also use a foliar fertiliser fortnightly that is a little higher in potassium. As with all information re fertiliser, look at the results and adjust as necessary.

Water: Keep the potting mix moist but not soggy. As a guide, water thoroughly 2-3 times a week in summer and less often in winter. Too much water can rot the plants.

BROMELIAD ROOT ROT AND HEART ROT
By David Skimmings--reprinted from The Hunter District Bromeliad Society Inc. newsletter, April 2011

As a follow-up from various discussions at last month’s meeting, I thought I would cover more on why sometimes our broms seem to rot off in the pot. If this happens rarely to you it comes as a bit of a shock when it does. As outlined by some members this occurs from over-watering and/or the potting mixture not being free-draining enough. Some members have reported this has been an issue over the past 12 months. This is because the rainfall and humidity has changed dramatically in some areas. Remember, we have just come out of a 7-10 year drought, or, at least in the urban environment, much drier times.

As stated, the potting mix must be free-draining, so the plant dries out a little around the base—i.e., not having what amounts to a wet sponge wrapped around your plant 100% of the time.

I was given a nidularium in a pot by a friend. I didn’t do anything with it other than put it on the shelf with the others and, in hindsight, I should have repotted it with my own mixture. After a few months it went brown in the centre well before its time and after a bit of a play with the plant the centre cone just popped out—oops! I knew what it was straight away--the dreaded rot as I had seen this in succulents. On inspection, I noticed it had been potted in a normal sandy potting mixture that held too much water and it had also been potted too deeply in the mix—i.e., the soil was too far up the side of the plant. {From a photograph in the original article} you can see that in the simple mix {t was in} it just didn’t have enough bark chips, etc. in it. The mixture also had some manure in it causing it to be ‘muddy’.

We have basically identified why this rotting occurs so we’ll just touch on the horticultural science behind the cause. It is an organism called Phytophthera cinnamomi. Phytophthera causes the serious potato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Late blight was a major culprit in the 1840s European, the 1845 Irish and 1846 Highland potato famines. This organism is a fungus with swimming spores which thrive in oxygen-deficient conditions and the spores have a long time resting stage estimated at 12-15 years. Without deviating too far from broms, there had been massive plant losses in tomatoes, avocado plantations, durian, oak and cacao trees, cinnamon tree plantations (Java) and crown rot in pineapples (Nundah).

Two indicators are (hopefully, if not too late) the foul smell and blue/black colouration around the leaf attachment.

Sometimes all is not lost and you can dry the plant out, strip off the mushy leaf tissue till you get back to good ones then sit the plant in a pot by itself or hang it up. Occasionally you’ll save the plant, or at least score a pup before the ‘mother’ is deceased. If your plant is much loved, expensive or rare the additional application of fungicide may be something you want to try. The recommended fungicide for the pineapple industry is Ridomil (Fongarid); however, there are plenty on the market that I won’t list in this article.

http://www.bromeliads.info/archives/bromeliad-diseases-overview
http://www.bsnz.org/articles/48-rotten_to_the_core.html
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/diseases-fungi-and-parasites/phytophthora-cinnamomi-disease

STOPPING CROWN ROT: EXPERIMENTS USING UNWASHED BEACH SAND
By Daryl Ganter—reprinted from The Hunter District Bromeliad Society Inc.’s February 2007 Newsletter

This paper sets out some of the ways I have used beach sand to:

1. Stop crown rot
2. Prevent rot and promote root growth in offsets

In May 2006 I discovered some serious cases of crown rot. Five plants were affected: Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’; B. ‘Domingos Martins’, cv of vittata; B. ‘Fantasia’; Neoregelia ‘Birdrock’and Nidularium ‘Sao Paulo’. It was easy to see what had caused the problem. I had been enthusiastically spraying a mixture of foliar fertilizer and Clensel during April and I forgot to stop as the weather cooled. I was also giving them too much water.

The affected plants had all been housed on shelves below other plants; they all received extra water and fertilizer as it dripped down from above.

The worst affected plant, the nidularium, was beyond help. The entire centre had rotted out. Fortunately the other plants were not as bad. The three billbergias each had rot in the centre but only one or two emerging leaves were affected in each plant. Neoregelia ‘Birdrock’ had three centre leaves affected and five outer leaves intact; the core of the plant seemed to be solid.

I had read a few home remedies and occasionally someone at the Bromeliad Society had mentioned that they had used an anti-fungal mixture to cure problems similar to mine. Every remedy had used a water-based anti-fungal drench of some sort. I had often thought that adding moisture to a plant affected by a disease that develops in moist conditions was risky. It seemed to me the plant should be kept dry.

The Cleanup
It will be no news to anyone that the muck I found inside my plants was pretty gross. Using long-handled tweezers and wads of tissues I mopped and wiped out the centre of each plant until it was dry inside.
My plan was to keep the plant centre dry, so I made a mixture of unwashed, dry, sifted, beach sand and dry Captan fungicide powder:

I used unwashed beach sand because of the antibacterial properties of sea salts. Some bromeliads tolerate sea mists and salt environments so I thought that the small quantity of salt in the beach sand would not affect my plants. I repotted each plant into orchid bark and poured in enough of the sand mixture to half fill the dried out vase of each plant. Because the sand mixture was dry it poured easily. I watered the bark in the pots but put no water in the vases of the plants. The plants were put into strong light and checked regularly by gingerly tugging on a centre leaf to see if the rot had continued. The vases containing the sand mixture were kept dry.

After one month every plant was still alive and every leaf still intact. So far so good! The plants were living but I couldn’t expect any growth during winter.

In the first week of August I received a surprise. The diseased Billbergia ‘Hallelujah’ was showing the stumps of three tiny offsets, B. ‘Domingos Martins’ was showing five pups and B. ‘Fantasia’ also had three pups. Neoregelia ‘Birdrock’, which had been more diseased than the billbergias, showed no change. It ultimately faded and died. I left the dry sand mixture in place for another month. I rinsed it out in the last week of September. It is now November and the billbergia pups are all growing well.

CONCLUSIONS
• My Billbergias should only be grown on a top shelf regardless of available light.
• To save any plant from crown rot, the disease has to be detected before three inner leaves are lost.
• The dry sand and Captan mixture destroyed the fungal disease and kept the adult plants alive until they could reproduce.

To Prevent Rot and Promote Root Growth in Very Young Offsets
This experiment began when our Society (Central Coast NSW Bromeliad Society) was preparing for the Flora Festival and I had asked members to grow pineapple tops for our Hawaiian themed display. A few of us had noticed that pineapple tops were slow to make roots and grow. I thought that if the base of the pineapple could be kept firm and moist without rotting it might make roots quicker.

I decided to treat the pineapple tops as if they were cuttings and not offsets. After peeling all but the top four or five leaves away I planted each fresh pineapple top in my usual orchid bark. I did not dry out the exposed base which is the recommended practice. I then eased the ‘cutting’ to one side and carefully poured in unwashed, dry beach sand. This process was repeated on the opposite side so that I had the pineapple ‘cutting’ planted in bark but with a layer of sand completely surrounding it. The pot was then watered thoroughly, but gently, so the sand would not be washed away, but the salts in the sand would be diluted.

My theory was that the sand would help hold the cutting firm while retaining a little moisture. The remaining salts in the sand would also provide some protection against fungal attack. It worked! The pineapple tops treated in this fashion developed roots up to 3 cm long in 10 days while other pineapple tops that had been dried and planted in just bark took more than a month to develop even small roots.

After that experience I began to plant all my offsets, freshly cut from the parent plant, into orchid bark with a beach sand layer around the base as described above. I find the offsets make roots faster and no rotting occurs.

WINTER PREPARATION AND PROTECTION FOR BROMELIADS

• Wind is the biggest worry for bromeliads, particularly those grown for their foliage.
• Remove dry leaves and mulch from around the surface that can lead to the rotting off of plants. Remove dry leaves from the floor of the greenhouse to reduce pests such as scale from carrying over to Spring.
• Check the potting mix to see that it is not too decayed or broken down going into winter.
• Check that the mixture is not repelling water—watering the foliage only may leave the roots bone dry. Aechmea have well-developed roots through which water is absorbed. Replace potting mix if necessary.
• For winter watering use a watering can to water each plant separately so that the foliage is not too wet for long periods—or soak the pot in a container of water and allow it to drain. Turn off automatic or fixed watering systems.
• Condensation dripping into the centres of Tillandsia can cause them to rot.
• When plants are outside there is a difference between sitting the pot on the ground and sinking the pot in the ground. If the pot is sunk into the ground the plant will be kept warmer and more moist. Foliage Vriesea need more protection than those with green leaves (which need excellent air circulation).
• One theory suggests that fish emulsion fertilisers contain cold-damage inhibitors which prepare the plant to withstand the cold much better. Alternate this fertiliser with other types of fertiliser.
• Note: Fish fertilisers are suitable for Vriesea but not for Tillandsia.

BROMELIAD HIERARCHY: Where do they fit in the Plant Kingdom?
From BSSF Home Page: http://www.seflin.org/bssf/system.htm, accessed June 30, 2000

The idea for this article was planted in my alleged brain a few years ago when someone asked, “Are bromeliads related to heliconias?” I had no idea whatever of their relationships to other plants, except for a presumed descent from the grass family.

Who Knows?
Well … no one actually knows. Systematic Botany is not an exact science. Methods of classification have changed considerably over the years.

Divisions of the plant kingdom have grown from the traditional four (Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms) to ten. The following list shows the correspondence between the older, traditional terms and current ones. Thanks to Bruce Holst at Selby Gardens for the info.

Non-Vascular Plants

• Bryophytes
- o Bryophyta (liverworts, hornworts, and mosses)

Vascular Plants

• Pteridophytes
- o Psilophyta (psilopsids)
- o Lycophyta (lycophytes)
- o Sphenophyta (horsetails)
- o Pterophyta (ferns)

• Gymnosperms
- o Coniferophyta (conifers)
- o Cycadophyta (cycads)
- o Ginkgophyta (Ginkgo)
- o Gnetophyta (gnetophytes)

• Angiosperms
- o Anthophyta (flowering plants—including the two classes Monocotyledonae and Dicotyledonae)

Using traditional terms, bromeliads belong in the monocot class of angiosperm division. Different systems of classification will use different terms, and at lower levels (subclass and order) the position of the bromeliads will be very different.

Classification Systems
There are currently at least three different systems in wide use: Cronquist, Thorne, and Dahlgren. These systems may use different terms for Divisions, Classes, Orders, etc.
For example, in the Cronquist system angiosperms are called “Magnoliophyta” and monocots “Liliopsida”. The arrangement of various families is also quite different from system to system.

Studies of the monocots involving DNA are being done, so some major re-alignments (and maybe some fairly definitive answers) may result.

Hierarchy of the Bromeliads (Based on the Cronquist System)

Eukaryota
=> KINGDOM: Plantae

=> => SUB KINGDOM: Tracheophyta (vascular plants)

=> => => DIVISION: Magnoliophyta (angiosperms)

=> => => => CLASS: Liliopsida (monocots) {dicots are called Magnoliopsida}

=> => => => => SUBCLASS: Zingiberidae

=> => => => => => ORDER: Zingiberales, Bromeliales, etc

=> => => => => => => FAMILY: (8 of) Zingiberales = ginger, heliconias, etc
=> => => => => => => FAMILY: Bromeliaceae

=> => => => => => => => SUBFAMILY: (3 of) Bromelioideae and Pitcairnioideae and Tillandsioideae

Folks with a serious interest in botany might like to check out this link to the monocot branch of the Tree of Life site in Arizona. (The system is different from that used in our chart.)

To get back to the question about bromeliads and heliconias that started this: At least in the Cronquist system, they’re more-or-less cousins.