Pitcairnia fuertesii Mez

  • Authority

    Smith, Lyman B. & Downs, Robert J. 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 14 (1): 1-658. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bromeliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pitcairnia fuertesii Mez

  • Type

    TYPE. Fuertes 364 (holotype, B; isotypes, BM, GH, M, S, SI), near Barahona, Republica Dominicana, Aug 1910.

  • Synonyms

    Pitcairnia tomentosa Mez, Pitcairnia fulgens Mez

  • Description

    Description - Plant stemless or with a very short stout caudex, flowering 1 m high. Leaves numerous; sheaths elliptic, dark-castaneous, subglabrous; blades dimorphic, some reduced to rigid, dark-castaneous, coarsely retrorse-spinose spines, others green, linear, attenuate, 1 m long, 1 cm wide, narrowed at the base but not truly petiolate, coriaceous, laxly spinulose-serrate throughout or nearly so, glabrous above, covered beneath with a fine membrane of white coalesced scales. Scape erect, 6 mm in diameter, sparsely white-flocculose, soon glabrous; scape-bracts lanceolate, the lower ones with elongate filiform-attenuate blades, the upper ones shorter than the internodes. Inflorescence simple or few-branched, 30-37 cm long; axes sparsely furfuraceous; primary bracts lanceolate, acuminate, 1 cm long; branches subdensely racemose, the lateral ones ascending with a long sterile base, up to 15 cm long. Floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate, membranaceous, longer or shorter than the pedicels; flowers erect or suberect; pedicels slender, less than 1 cm long. Sepals lance-oblong, abruptly acute, 17-25 mm long, ecarinate, glabrous; petals linear, obtuse, up to 53 mm long, exceeding the stamens, bright-red, bearing a crenulate scale slightly above the base; pistil equaling the petals; ovary more than half superior; ovules short-caudate.

  • Common Names

    Maya cimarrona

  • Distribution

    Terrestrial and saxicolous, open slopes, 300-1600 m alt, Hispaniola.

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