Tillandsia Nezley
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Tillandsia Nezley
usneoides x mallemontii by N.Misso <1991
There is a possiblity that the pollen parent is T. recurvata - see Journ Brom Soc 25(1): 29. 1975

Andrew Flower 05/16
Ian Hook, 10/05. (! probably T. Nezley !)
Ian Hook, 01/07. (! probably T. Nezley !)
Andrew Flower 05/16 ... "Some years ago there came to me from an abandoned tillandsia collection one T. neslii, and I just noticed it flowering. Suspecting it to be misnamed, I checked the DVD and sure enough it is indeed Tillandsia Nezley.
Two tillandsias were named for Mr Nez Misso: Tillandsia Nez Misso and Tillandsia Nezley.
But is it Nezley?? There was much confusion in the OZ ranks once upon a time, and some were sure his name was Nes. Could it really be Nesley, incorrectly named Nezley? Or indeed, was he really Mr Misso? or was the poor old Mr Mizzo's name unfortunately miss-remembered? Weighty issues."
Maurice Kellett ... "Derek Butcher and Andrew Flower, I have completed a little bit of detective work.
In my manual, '50 years of the BSI Journal', Nez gets 3 mentions. The main one is in Jan/Feb 1975.
“Mr Leonard P. Butt has written of the death of one of Australia’s most enthusiastic bromeliad growers, Mr Nez Misso.
He was probably the most advanced grower of tillandsias in Queensland and his advanced methods of growing these plants on coir rope windings from seed to maturity were indeed remarkable . One of his last developments was his cross of T. usnioides by T .recurvata.”
I was lucky to be invited to his place to see his collection while he was still alive and this probably happened when I stayed with my close friend Len Butt.
The name Nes may have been a shortening of a fuller name but I have no record of this."
Derek Butcher ... "Maurice: You have put the cat amongst the pigeons. I have always doubted that 'Nezley' is usneoides x mallemontii but are we growing this? Perhaps Geoff can make some note in the BCR. In the meantime it is up to Andrew or someone else who has this plant, to grow on self set seed so we get a bit closer to parentage. Remember the name 'Nezley' was given by person/s unknown without input from Nezley himself."
Bob Reilly ... "When I was an undergraduate student at the University of Queensland in 1973, Nez Misso took me to my first bromeliad society meeting. He also sold me a (then very rare) Tillandsia cyanea for $5—a highly concessional price. I have not forgotten his act of generosity, and his very courteous nature. He also invited me to lunch on a couple of occasions, with himself and his wife—very gratefully received by a student hungry for some home cooking!"
Ian Hook 02/22


Chris Larson to Derek Butcher, 30/01/16 ... "Brent was observant yesterday and spotted this one which is what I always thought as T. Nezley (the one I referred to the other day) – though the photo of the flower on the BCR shows it is not Nezley.
Some may find this one “around” as it gets mixed in with T. mallemontii in the polypak stuff in Bunnings etc.
Any ideas ?"
Derek Butcher ... "According to the description in S&D this species is quite variable and your photo could well be of T. mallemontii. Botanically speaking, Baker in 1889 got it horribly confused with T. linearis.
Now to 'Nezley'. I got my plant in 1984 from a forgotten source in Qld. Its photo is on the BCR. The parents quoted were usneoides and mallemontii. I assumed it was a hybrid and did not check to see if it was in fact a hybrid. I accepted the name as Nezley even though it was probably ex Nezley because people rarely call a plant after themselves. The name 'Nezley' first got into my checklist in 1991. The plant was discussed at Albury in 2006 and nobody could supply any history. It was suggested that the parentage could well be T. usneoides x T. recurvata.
[Ed. See historical findings under 'Nezley' and 'Nes Misso']
And so the name Nezley stays in the records.
As an aside in 1991 I got a couple of seedlings from Maurice Kellett called T. mallemontii but when they flowered they looked like small T. streptocarpa so I affectionately called them 'Mauries mallemontii' but did nothing further."
Ian Hook ... "I have some pics of mine on our web under T.mallemontii titled "probably Nezley".
I originally got from 2 sources (but don't know which survived), 2005 BSA Show and an old collector, Bert Plemback 2007
Shape, flower, and growing habit different to mallemontii and to usneoides. It doesn't flower much for me and has an insipid pale blue non-fragrant flower on short stem.
Chris Larson suggested the non-flowering bunch he saw here was T. Nezley.
Maybe Nezley stretches all the way from almost usneoides to almost mallemontii (or single flowered streptocarpa)."
Derek Butcher ... "The whole problem with 'Nezley' is that we cannot find its real origin. Who did the hybrid? Everything is so secretive.
We know that T. mallemontii can be up to 20 cm long. I enclose a herbarium specimen from Paris. Sorry I do not have the Berlin one.
The plant I got in 1984 called Nezley has blue flowers which when you come to think of it is strange when one of the alleged parents has green flowers. Therefore, if there is such a thing as 'Nezley' I would have expected greyish petals and feel we should put a couple of your photos in the BCR to show variation in petal colour to be expected. We will see what Geoff thinks.
After all of this I think we should not be too hasty in writing off the name T. mallemontii which seems very variable in size.
Note that with all the new hybrids we are going to have increased problems of identity. It may be safer to call a plant Tillandsia hybrid than guessing what it might be. The only mention in the BCR regarding a usneoides and mallemontii is our 'Nezley' and we don't even know if that is correct.
BTW, I think VB Bob should be looking at 'Holm's Mallensis' for his almost 'Nezley'"

Updated 10/02/22