Hoo boy, you do come up with some toughies, Patris!

It's a Vriesea, I can tell you that, but I don't recognize it offhand. Is this another one from Nelwyn Anderson? If so, it could be some unusual species we've never heard of that John picked up on a collecting trip.

Either that or it's a hybrid. There aren't a lot of spotted Vrieseas-- guttata, racinae and saundersii come to mind, and that's about it. It's not any of those, but it could be one of their offspring, particularly guttata, by the looks of it.

Maybe someone else will recognize it.

Yes Lisa this one did come from Nelwyn. One of the few that they collected that ended up with no tag. Nelwyn could not even remember from where it came. Thinking Brazil, but was not sure.
I have been calling her Speck for the time being! LOL

I tend to think it would be an unknown although it could be a hybrid. Not many hybrids around the Anderson collection!
Will have to wait until she blooms and even then????
Some of the ones they collected may never bloom though and will remain unknowns.
Speck is still gorgeous named or not!!!

If it is a hybrid I think your feelings of guttata may be right on, I also think racinae may have had a foot in the door.

Nelwyn was telling me a little about their trips to collect some of these plants and WOW how much fun that had to have been. Some places not as much fun as others.....but still the thrill of finding something no one else has ever seen before!

Hi patris,
I've had all 3 that Lisa mentioned,and I'm inclined to go with Vr.guttata. Mostly because Vr.racinae is a small plant,about 4" high, (can't tell the size of your plant pictured,but looks larger than 4"). And Vr.saundersii has a gray/green leaf with lots of tiny red speckling,no spots on the ones I have. Or,as said,could be an unknown collected plant. If yours is guttata,I'd think that it was located in a very shaded area,and did'nt get a chance to develop more spots than it has. As you said,eventually a bloom will tell the true identity. If it does,let us know.
Bob

I wasn't suggesting it was straight guttata, Bob, I just thought it might be a hybrid of it, but if it's one of John's collected plants, then that seems pretty unlikely. Guttata's a small plant too, but I used to have a cross between it and glutinosa that was much bigger. I don't think that's what this is either, though.

How big a plant is it, Patris? I can't tell what size pot that is. Vrieseas are comparatively unknown territory for me, but I went for a quick scroll through the species thumbnails on FCBS, just to see if anything jumped out at me. It didn't, but I did come across some other spotted species, including capixabae, pardalina and velosicula. Those first 2 are guttata look-alikes, even the flower, so I'm not sure what the differences are there. Of those 3, pardalina looks most like your plant, but it still appears to be a smaller plant than what you have, so I'm not suggesting that it is.

Another mystery!

Speck is in a 4" pot and stands about 10" tall.

Where did you find a picture of pardalina? Did a search and could not find one.

Bob, you may be right about not getting enough light. She was as I said at the back of the greenhouse almost covered by some very large Vrieseas. Her mom was happy as we got 4 pups from the one tiny pot. I'm going to try a little more light on this one to see if those spots will spread out like the guttata.

Since the plant was not getting proper light do you think it is just leggy?
I did not notice the guttata having these dark red patches on top of leaves
{{gwi:453611}}
Also on the bottom of a couple of leaves
{{gwi:453612}}

I would think with a little more light this baby would color up and be gorgeous!

Thanks for all the help

It could be a Vriesea saundersii or a hybrid of the same

patris,
I don't think the plant is 'leggy',as it seems to have kept the typical Vriesea shape. The patches of redish color is confusing. This plant could be a new species collected by John,but we won't know till it pops a bloom.It may surprise us and be an Aechmea.
Very doubtful its Vr.saundersii...just take a look at saundersii on FCBS,its gray/green,having soft leather-like flattened out style leaves with fine red speckles. And while there,look at #80 to find Vr.pardalina.
When you said you got 4 pups out of the mom,is this one of them ? Or is this the mom?
Bob

Its a pup Bob

oops...Vr.Sanderiana..thought one thing and typed another LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:453609}}

patris/hdd,
that Vr.sanderiana is a strong possibility.Looks much like your plant. Get Yours To Bloom !!
Must know...can't sleep ;))
bob

Patris, I had another thought about an ID. I've had a Vr.'Kitteliana' that resembles your plant. Same shape and spotting,but now lives at the bbg,so no pic available tonight.

I Googled it,and tried to post a pic from another website,but no luck,just the description came thru.
The pic there did look like your 'Speck'

"Vriesea Kitteliana
cv. of barilletii X saundersii by Kittel."

So you might try what Google comes up with and hope for a photo.

Bob

LOL Bob you ruled that out 4 posts back when I typed the wrong one

I have Vr. 'Kitteliana' too, Bob, and the spots are different. Lots of small dots from the saundersii parent, rather than a few larger ones.

I think HDD's suggestion of 'Sanderiana' may be right on the money. It certainly looks more like that than any of the species we've looked at.

Uncle Derek sheds more light on the matter:

Here is a link that might be useful: Uncle Derek says: Vr. Sanderiana

Ah,sooo hdd.
Yes,Vr.'Sanderiana',IS the most likely,as you suggested,and I agreed with it in my post of 3/24, 11:33
So we all are in agreement there.
What I was not in favor of was straight Vr.sandersii.[3/24 0:43] (Lisa's idea of a hybrid of it,I do think possible)
I think 'Uncle D.' is right on,in that we get the names easily confused by their similarity.
I also agree with Lisa,re:'Kittleliana'...[See photo of "K" on Bird Rock Tropicals website,tons of small red dots],...tho the one I owned had fewer,larger spots,and so I'm thinking now that mine was mis-tagged when I got it.
I'm grateful for corrections on anything I post.
As I've said, I'm "always learning".
btw...Uncle D's article above from Lisa,says a lot on plant naming confusion,and maybe we can see differences in our posts because we are unknowingly referring to our experiances with incorrectly tagged plants.
(only the plants know for sure!) ;))
Bob

Bob took a picture of his Vr. kittliana from the gardens and emailed it to me. Looks an awful lot like Speck.

Hoping he will post it here and would like to hear from you all, yea's and na's please.

I have talked sweet to her and played music, but no bloom yet. LOL Guess since she is a mama plant I should change her name to Specketta or Speckalina!

OK Patris,you got me to post the pic.
BTW, 'Specketta' would be a Polish or Spanish plant name,
and 'Speckalina' would definetly be an Italian one.
(different opinions ?)

The PHOTO.... Sanderiana or Kittleliana ?
(Tropiflora label has it as 'Kittleliana')
'Speckalina' ?
{{gwi:453613}}

Bob I believe your plant is tagged correctly but Im still not sure of Patris's plant. And I would send in your photo to the webmaster at FCBS ta good photo is badly needed on this plan

Here is a link that might be useful: registry

I think Bob's plant and Patris' plant are probably the same, but not Kitteliana. The spots are larger and have kind of a hazy margin, which would be consistant with a guttata hybrid.

Here's my Vr. Kitteliana, bought at convention-- not that that's any guarantee of correct labeling, but the spots do look more reminiscent of its saundersii parent:

{{gwi:453614}}

I haven't seen a flower yet.

Lisa,
It's a pretty safe bet that your plant is a V. 'Kitteliana'. I've had one in my collection for nearly 30 years. It tends to produce at least a couple of pups before blooming. The inflorescence is nothing to write home about, but the foliage is beautiful. It's one of those "oldies but goodies". Judging from the photo on fcbs, I'd say the bloom of Vr. 'Sanderiana' is showier.
Next time one of us gets a bloom on Vr. Kitteliana, we'll have to submit a proper photo to Ken for the fcbs site.