Vriesea friburgensis var. paludosa
Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.

Vriesea friburgensis var. paludosa
Species, Brazil.
Photo Derek Butcher.
From February 2008 meeting of The Bromeliad Society of South Australia, Derek Butcher.
(See S.A. Gazette 32/02)
"Next was a Vriesea friburgensis v. paludosa which was nearly as tall as George Rudolph. An impressive plant even though yellow was predominant in the inflorescence. The interesting thing was that it had Alcantarea geniculata on the label. 20 years or so ago plants came into Adelaide from Sydney with Vriesea geniculata on the label. The owner/s of this plant/s knew that this species was now an Alcantarea and dutifully changed the name but looked no further. Let us now go back 15 years ago when my Vriesea geniculata flowered and it did not agree with the description. Harry Luther soon put me on to the right track and the label got changed to Vriesea friburgensis v. paludosa. My motto has been for many years –Never trust the name on the label! Being inquisitive means you can get a warm, fuzzy feeling if the name is correct OR a warm fuzzy feeling if you find the correct name – a win, win situation!"

Updated 21/02/08