Tillandsia Malleblanco
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Tillandsia Malleblanco
Probably a white flowered (and scented) variety of mallemontii
| Gary May 01/17 |
Peter Tristram 01/17 |
Gary May 17/01/17 ... "Flowering at the moment."
Derek Butcher 17/01/17 ... "I don't know if you realise that you are the first to report a white petalled T. mallemontii. Have you checked it out against the description apart from petal colour. In examining your great shots I saw no evidence of a hybrid. Just as we have 'Spanish Gold' for the yellow petalled T. usneoides this needs a name so it can be recorded. As far as I can trace, this variation has not been noted by botanists and formally recorded. So it really is a Cultivar. Owners of the plant before you, have not been interested in noting that it is different to the normal T. mallemontii but if you can find out a bit about its history it would be great to record this.
In the meantime start thinking up what might be an apt name. 'Mal' could well be a starting point!"
Derek Butcher 17/01/17 ... "As for its origins Pedro has suggested a vague origin but these sorts of things never seem to be reported when they happen. Was it from seed? Was it a possible hybrid? Was it a sport? It does seem to be a good match against the description of the species - other than petal colour!"
Gary May 17/01/17 ... "I am pretty sure my plant came from a visit to Barry Genn a couple of years ago. Barry might be able to shed more light on where and when he obtained it. Barry or the person he obtained it from would have more right to naming it. However my input would be a rather logical name 'Malleblanco'."
Barry Genn 17/01/17 ... "I have had this plant for some years now and I am pretty sure I got it from VB Bob who I think was the importer. It appears to be an alba mallemintii both in the flower and in the plant."
Peter Tristram 17/01/17 ... "Tropiflora was my source. I’ll ask Dennis what light he can throw on this little delight."
Peter Tristram 17/01/17 ... "I have been browsing my various archives to find when I thought I had posted pics of this nice little species and it seems I never sent the photo. Then in came UD’s reply, so here is a new resize as the old one was too small, taken in 2012 (on Australia Day). Here’s also a line from a post I made in 2010, ‘From memory, some others I have or have seen are T. straminea (see attached pic), caput-medusae, bulbosa, peiranoi, mallemontii, duratii, globosa, reichenbachii and cyanea.’ and I know pics of most, if not all, of the others mentioned have been posted. It’s not recorded in the description so I might try to find out a little more about it. I do know I sourced it in the USA. I guess if I posted pics of all of my bloomings I’d dominate the forum which I don’t want to do."
Derek Butcher 18/01/17 ... "'Malleblanco' sounds great. In Botany - First in wins.The problem here is that some sellers consider that T. mallemontii white is a sufficient name. There are hundreds of these sorts of names in existence. I call them NN ( Nurseryman's Name or Nomen Nudum) because they are not recorded either as a species or a cultivar. You can fill in the application form as in the BCR Home page or I can. If I were doing it I would say named by Gary May. Origin unknown as to whether it was collected from the wild, mutation from seed or a Sport but agrees with the description of T. mallemontii in Smith & Downs except for colour of petals."
Gary May 29/01/17 ... "After a few 'to n fro' emails with UD, it appears there are 2 paths with naming this little rascal.
The most desirable( in my mind)would be mallemontii forma alba but this requires herbarium specimen and other hurdles to be jumped. Strangely it appears easier to register a name for the plant which I personally find unnecessary and cumbersome(another damned name). Some 'players' however would find this desirable because it gives the opportunity to market something new. So unless there is an avalanche of email it appears there will be a quiet ceremony with the associated 'head wetting'. T. mallemontii 'Malleblanco' or 'Malleblanco'. Other late suggestions are welcome."
Geoff Lawn 07/02/17 ... "Too late. This is now registered as T. 'Malleblanco'. "Imported by Peter Tristram to Australia from Tropiflora, Florida. Origin unknown as to whether it was collected from the wild, a mutation from seed or a vegetative sport but it agrees with the botanical description of T. mallemontii in Smith & Downs Tillandsioideae Monograph (1977) except for colour of petals which are white.""
Peter Tristram 31/01/17 ... "Hi Gary, I emailed a few Florida folk with replies drawing a blank for provenance though Dennis hasn't replied and he is the key player. So T. mallemontii White fl. becomes T. 'Malleblanca', at least in Oz I guess. Nice little species albeit with a cv name."
Updated 13/04/17