Tillandsia lindenii
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Tillandsia lindenii
Ken Woods, multi-spiked plant.
Ken Woods.
Ian Hook 02/05.
Ian Hook 02/05.
Ian Hook 02/08.
Wallisia cyanea as Morren's T. lindenii
Carolyn Bunnell 05/18 as T. lindenii but possibly Wallisia 'Duvalii'

Derek Butcher ... With reference to the new taxonomy names:
Yes, the Taxon list contains 26 references to Tillandsia lindenii, including variants. This just means that there are 26 references to botanists who have given THEIR interpretation of lindenii.
By the new classification, many will become Wallisia cyanea, some Wallisia lindenii, some become W. pretiosa, duvalii x, and some dropped altogether.
In other words just because you have lindenii on the label does not mean you can change it to Wallisia cyanea. See above for E.Morrens interpretation of lindenii which becomes W. cyanea. Most of what we have as T. lindenii on the label have a substantial stem below the paddle and are probably the hybrid Wallisia 'Duvalii'.

Tillandsia lindeniana Regel => Wallisia lindeniana
Tillandsia lindeniana sensu Mez (in part) => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii K. Koch => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii Hasack, Möllers => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii E.Morren => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii H.Laurentius => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii Regel => Wallisia lindeniana
Tillandsia lindenii superba rosea Dauthenay => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. abundans L.B.Sm. => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. caeca x D. Barry => Tillandsia EXCLUDED TAXA
Tillandsia lindenii var. duvalii Duval ex André => Wallisia duvalii x
Tillandsia lindenii var. genuina E. Morren => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. intermedia E.Morren ex Carrière => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. koutsinskyana (E.Morren) L.B.Sm. => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. luxurians (E.Morren) L.B.Sm. => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. luxurians E.Morren => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. major Dombrain => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. regeliana E.Morren => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. regeliana sensu André => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. rutilans Linden ex Houllet => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. splendida Carrière => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. tricolor E. Morren, André => Wallisia pretiosa
Tillandsia lindenii var. vera Dombrain => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. vera major Duval => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. vera superba Duval => Wallisia cyanea
Tillandsia lindenii var. violacea hort. ex André => Wallisia cyanea

Further notes on so-called lindenii, from Derek Butcher 24/05/17 ....
Just a word a bit off topic but I am getting lots of queries about the loss of Tillandsia lindenii when all the other "paddle" plants got transferred to Wallisia.
First let us look at what was in Smith and Downs 1977 and the plants we grew that were based on it.

*Tillandsia lindenii Regel, Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. "1868": 92. Mar 1869; Ann. Sci. Nat. V. 10: 382. ca Aug 1869.
TiIIandsia lindeniana Regel, Gartenflora 18: 193. pI. 619. Jul 1869. Type. Linden Hortus s n (n v). In the absence of any specimen the species is adequately typified by the description and illustration.
Tillandsia lindeni E. Morren var regeliana E. Morren, Belg. Hortic. 20: 225, pI. 12. 1870. Based on Tillandsia lindeniana Regel.
Tillandsia lindeni var major Dombrain, Floral Mag. 10: pl. 529. 1871. Type. Veitch Hortus s n. Typified by illustration.
? Vriesia violacea hortus ex Houllet, Revue Hort. 44: 230. 1872; nomen in synon.
Tillandsia lindeni var rutilans Linden ex Houllet, Revue Hort. 44: 230. 1872; nomen in synon.
Tillandsia lindeni var intermedia E. Morren ex Carriere, Revue Hort. 50: 390. 1878. Based on Tillandsia lindeni var major Dombrain.
Phytarrhiza lindeni E. Morren var intermedia E. Morren, Belg. Hortic. 29: 298. 1879. Based on Floral Mag. 10: pi. 529. 1871 (Tillandsia lindeni var. major).
Phytarrhiza lindeni var regeliana (E. Morren) E. Morren, Belg. Hortic. 29: 298. 1879.
? Tillandsia lindeni var violacea hortus ex Andre, Revue Hort. 58: 61. 1896; nomen.
Tillandsia lindeni vera major Duval, Gartenwelt 5: 164, fig. 1901. Type. Duvalle Hortus {Versailles}. Typified by illustration.
Tillandsia lindenii var koutsinskyana (E. Morren) L. B. Smith, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 29: 494. 1951.
Tillandsia lindenii var x caeca D. Barry, Bromel. Soc. Bull. 12: 5. 1962.
Tillandsia lindenii var abundans L. B. Smith, Phytologia 20: 166. 1970.
Tillandsia lindenii var x duvaliana L. B. Smith, Phytologia 20: 166. 1970. (Tillandsia cyanea x lindenii).

*Description from S&D pages 844-5
Scape (flower stem) erect, slender, elongate;
Inflorescence simple, lanceolate, acute, strongly complanate, dense, to 20-flowered, to 20 cm long and 5 cm wide, glabrous.

The first name above is where the name on our labels comes from. All others are synonyms, in other words are considered are linked to that name even though in themselves they might be different. So this plant started out in 1868 as having a small inflorescence with only about 5 flowers but as each synonym was added so too did the description change. The ORIGINAL T. lindenii becomes Wallisia lindeniana. But what happened to T. lindenii as seen by Smith?. To my mind, the clue lies in the last line of the synonyms and we should think of the hybrid Wallisia ‘Duvalii’. May it rest in peace.


Tillandsias with Paddle-shaped inflorescences by D Butcher 2000
(anceps, cyanea, lindenii, pretiosa, umbellata)
There has been some interesting photographs submitted to the Internet about this group and it shows that there is some confusion as to names. First we have to ignore the use of colour purely because the beta cyanin in the blue petals creates havoc with colour film irrespective of brand and produces reddish tones. We have argued this point for many years in Adelaide and have never come up with an answer. I had thought that digital cameras might have solved the problem but it seems that the make of camera also effects the result. So the finer points of colour are out.
I thought I would solve this naming problem for good and all and draw up a chart. This follows:

. Name. Scape. Spike. Axis visible anthesis. Petal. White centre. Floral bracts nerved
. anceps. short. 10-15cm x 5.5cm. no. 5.5cm long narrow and spreading. no. no
. cyanea. short. 16 x 7cm. no. 8cm long wide and spreading. no except v. tricolor. no
. lindenii. long. 20 x 5cm. no. 7cm long wide and spreading. yes. yes
. pretiosa. long. 20 x 11cm. yes. 8cm long wide and spreading. yes. very strong
. umbellata. long and thin. 6 x 3cm. yes. 7cm long wide and spreading. yes. yes
The combinations should make it easy to pick out the species but do they? With such a colourful inflorescence, hybridists have been at them since the end of the 1800's and if the botanists couldn't identify the species, how could the hybridists know what they were pollinating with! So there are lots of problems out there!
From the botanist's point of view let me quote from Lyman Smith's Studies in the Bromeliaceae XVI (1951)

The name, "Tillandsia lindeni", sets a new high for confusion in the Bromeliaceae. As used here it applies to the "long-scaped” species first noted by Regel, and not to the "short-scaped" species that E. Morren described as new under the same name. Regel, after publishing his species twice as "lindeni," for no explained reason changed to "lindeniana" for his third and best-known description, and a year later proposed "morreniana" as a new name for Morren's species to avoid duplication of the "lindeni" he now disowned. Morren, not to be outdone in weird reasoning, proceeded to make Regel's earlier species a variety "regeliana" of his, the later, "lindeni."
Regel and Morren argued back and forth in print over the names and status of their two finds and were later further confused by Andre. Meanwhile, the horticultural writers, struck by the great beauty of the plants, published a profusion of notes and illustrations without stopping to verify names and identities. In several instances they managed to illustrate "lindeni" of Regel while labeling it "lindeni" of Morren.
Regel contented himself in arguing the priority of his name and the specific distinction of the two entities involved. Morren considered them varieties of the same species and went on to add further varieties, still under the wrong "lindeni," with the paradoxical result that three of them must now be transferred from "lindeni" of Morren to "lindeni" of Regel, since the two species were founded independently, and on different types.
Again we meet confusion in the battle of Tillandsia lindeni. Both species were collected by Wallis and, as reported by Regel, one came from Zozoranga in Ecuador and the other from Huancabamba in Peru. Morren claimed that they were but a single collection, but later collections would refute this and also indicate that Regel had reversed species and localities. Actually, all collections since the types indicate that the species with the long scape is Peruvian and that with the short is Ecuadorian.
The earliest specimen of Tillandsia lindeni to be illustrated was few-flowered and rather resembled T. umbellata, but later more vigorous plants had larger inflorescences that contrast sharply with that species.

After all this investigation you would have thought that Lyman Smith would have known all there was to know about this group but we find that his T. cyanea var. elatior is now treated as a T. pretiosa.
Let us also look at THE chart to see the differences between T. lindenii and T. pretiosa. The T. pretiosa spike is twice as long as it is wide, in fact quite a fat fellow, and in the photograph by Werner Rauh in BSIJ #6 1984 we clearly see the axis at the time of actual flowering. The photograph from Jose Manzanares is not as clear cut but it does show the non-flowered bracts at the top of the spike much closer together. If we look at the photograph on page 209 in Baensch's Blooming Bromeliads (1994) we will see no changes in the positions of the floral bracts and a somewhat skinny spike suggesting this is T. lindenii or a hybrid of it.
If you have anything that can add to our knowledge of this group please let us know.

Key from Mez 1935
b) Inflorescentia densa, optime flabellata.
l. Bracteae sepalis permulto longiores; petalorum laminae ellipticae.
- § Bracteae ad 0,125 m longae ==> 332. monstrum
- §§ Bracteae ad 40 mm longae ==> 333. anceps
2. Bracteae sepalis paullo longiores vel ea subaequantes; petalorum laminae maximae, suborbiculares.
- § Inflorescentia multiflora; flores sibi superpositi.
- - + Sepala rotundata
- - - ° Scapus elongatus; petala ad faucem albo-maculata ==> 334. Lindeniana
- - - °° Scapus abbreviatus; petala aequaliter cyanea ==> 335. Morreniana
- - ++ Sepala acutissima ==> 336. pretiosa
- §§ Inflorescentiae pauciflorae flores juxtapositi adspectu subumbellati ==> 337. umbellata


Updated 07/09/18