Alcantarea vinicolor
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Alcantarea vinicolor
John Catlan, Brisbane. extensa ?
*Note: John Catlan photos - Elton Leme 5/2008 suggests "extensa"
Jan Townsend 05/05
Ian Hook 10/05, from 'The Olive Branch'

Peter Tristram 07/26
original vinicolor clone and a red clone, from a seedling

Peter Tristram 07/26 ... "A clump of what was likely the original Alcantarea vinicolor in Australia. It was imported as Alc imperialis by Rob Phillips, of Coffs Harbour, from Jeff Kent in about 1980. Rob built a quarantine house and we quarantined rarities there quite a few times before I built a Q house that was actually insect proof. Jeff told me it was from Pedra Azul, in Espirito Santo state. Interestingly, seed from it produces about 5% red 'vinis', and plants vary in size. At Pedra Azul there are thousands of 'vinis', reds and greens, on the same rock surfaces, of various sizes."
George Stamatis ... "Looks very much like what used to be sold as Vr. imperialis in South Africa back in the 90's. Obviously it was always some kind of vinicilor all along."

Alcantarea vinicolor (Pereira & Reitz) J. R. Grant, Abh. Akad. Wiss. Lit. Mainz Math.Naturwiss. Klasse, Trop. Subtrop Pflanzenwelt 91: 14. 1995.
Basionym: Vriesea vinicolor Pereira & Reitz, Bradea 1: 386. 1974.

Desc from S&D
246a. Vriesea vinicolor E. Pereira & Reitz, Bradea I: 386, pI. 4, figs. 8-11. 1974. Fig 467 M-R.

Plant flowering 1.6 m high.
Leaves in a dense crateriform rosette, 60 cm long, rigid, coriaceous;
Sheaths subovate, 20 cm long, 16 cm wide, dark castaneous, densely pardaline-lepidote above, inconspicuously lepidote beneath;
Blades sublinear, long-attenuate and then short-acuminate, 10 cm wide, green below, the upper half vinaceous.
Scape erect, 15 mm thick, purplish;
internodes 5 cm long;
Scape-bracts spreading toward apex, vinaceous beneath, green and lepidote above, the lower imbricate, subtriangular, long-acuminate, 8 cm long, 6 cm wide, the upper much smaller, short-acuminate, shorter than the internodes.
Inflorescence laxly bipinnate;
Primary bracts very broadly ovate, rounded and apiculate, 30 mm long, 45 mm wide, shorter than the sterile bases of the branches, vinaceous;
Branches 4, spreading, 25-35 cm long with 12-15 distichous flowers, the sterile base 10 cm long with 2 bracts;
Rhachis geniculate, purplish; internodes 15 mm long.
Floral bracts suborbicular, cymbiform-inflated, emarginate and minutely apiculate, 3 cm wide extended, obtusely carinate or ecarinate, dark purple;
Flowers a little secund upwardly, nocturnal, not imbricate;
Pedicels 10 mm thick.
Sepals broadly ovate, acute, 30 mm long, much exceeding the floral bracts, pale vinaceous;
Petals linear-lanceolate, acute, 8 cm long, 10 mm wide, soon flaccid, bearing 2 entire, 7 mm long scales at base;
Stamens free, 10 cm long;
Ovules long-caudate.
Type. Vargem Alta, Espirito Santo, Brazil, cultivated in Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro, 23 Aug 1973, A. P. Duarte s n (holotype HB 60156 n v).
DISTRIBUTION. Known from the type collection only.

According to the authors, Vriesea vinicolor is related to V. extensa L. B. Smith and V. imperialis Carriere. It is said to differ from the former in its floral bracts being nongibbous and its petals equaling its stamens, and from the latter in the shape of its inflorescence, bracts, and sepals. If the petals and stamens are truly equal Vriesea vinicolor does not belong in the subgenus Alcantarea or requires redefinition of that subgenus. However, it should be noted that the measurements given are quite unequal with the petals 8 cm and the stamens 10 cm.

Updated 11/07/26