Tillandsia TinyBuffalo Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Tillandsia TinyBuffalo
cv bulbosa, registered by Woody Kaotun.
From BCR ..."Mature small, bulbous-based rosette 12 cm. diameter x 15 cm. high. Wavy, spidery, scurfed, channeled, light green leaves. At blooming, inner foliage turns brick red with red edges. Erect, tightly-branched, inflorescence 12 cm. high with scurfed silver bracts (sometimes orange-bracted) and amethyst violet flowers. These small clones were imported as wild-collected Tillandsia bulbosa around 2001 to Thailand from Costa Rica. The batch were grouped and selected since 2007 at VC Garden, Loei, Thailand. Paradisia Nursery of Melbourne, Victoria also report the same clones arriving regularly in shipments from Guatemalan nurseries since the 1980s, which breed true from self-set seed. Reg. Doc. 7/2018 by Woody Kaotun. Country of origin: Costa Rica,Guatemala"
Woody Kaotun 07/18
Chris Larson 09/18 compared to bulbosa on right.
Chris Larson ... "Something I just found on the BCR. Supposedly ouy of Costa Rica. Also in many, many, many shipments out of Guatemala – see above.
I reckon it has been common in Australia since the 80’s? I used to think that all T. bulbosa were like this because it is hardier than the red bracted T. bulbosa in our climate.
I have posted it a few times here (one time actually this photo), & the comment has been – why not T. bulbosa ?
Sets seed like crazy. Comes up true. I’ve sent seed to Bob Hudson on occasion. It finally has a name." Bob Hudson ... "This little beauty I have been growing since the 80's and it was the one we thought was a hybrid, to keep it separate i called it T. bulbosa 'Silver' as it has silver bracts. I think i have grown 100's from seed." Vic Przetocki ... "Bob. I have a similar plant as Chris’ that has the elongated bulb. I am fairly sure that I bought it from you at the 1997 Perth Conference as T. bulbosa 'Red form'. It was a smallish seedling plant. It’s been a long time but is finally coming into flower. Will post a photo when it is fully in flower, see what you think. Plant tends to be redder when not flowering, growing side by side with standard T. bulbosa." Derek Butcher ... "I am confused as usual. T. bulbosa has a wide range of habitats and botanists have lumped the many forms into one species which can vary from green to red floral bracts and varying densities of trichomes. If I were looking for differences rather than similarities I would say that T. 'Tiny Buffalo' has green floral bracts with heavy trichomes. Why should the one with orange bracts be called 'Tiny Buffalo' as well. To me it seems distinctive enough to warrant its own name say 'Tiny Orange Buffalo'. In any event it would seem that exports from Guatemala will still be called T. bulbosa." Chris Larson ... "Derek: The photo was one I did quite some time ago, probably years, to query the identity of the plant - which I posted as “T.bulbosa query” – the query is the plant on the left. The couple of times I have raised this, you and others have said that there is no reason to call it anything other than T. bulbosa. But I believe the plant registered as T. Tiny Buffalo is nearly identical to one of the forms of this plant that I have seen.
Now to the orange one on the right: this is a normal red bracted T. bulbosa that I placed in the photo for comparison. The reason it has paled off to orange is environmental – it probably got hot or cold – or something like that. I wouldn’t mind an orange one!!!
The plant on the left has green bracts and heavy trichomes. The spikes are more narrow & often quite a bit longer (10-20%) than most of the T. bulbosa I usually see – which these days are not just originating in Guatemala." Derek Butcher ... "So we are yet to see an orange bracted 'Tiny Buffalo' even though the BCR says 'Sometimes orange bracted. For what is is worth I believe that all are within the description of T. bulbosa"
