A Nice Surprise

10 years ago

Hi everyone - A couple of days
ago when I was checking around the yard for damage following some wild weather
we had, I stumbled across this Billbergia
in a weed infested corner of the garden, out of sight and out of mind. I had gone out to pick
up the morning newspaper and had a feeling that something was
"different", and when I looked more carefully at the surroundings I
was greeted with this beautiful vision.

I'm not sure of the name but
am told it's probably Billbergia zebrina
which is a species from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It's a
beautiful plant but unfortunately like many Billbergias, the flowers and bracts
are very short lived.

John Catlan who is an Australian bromeliad hybridiser and grower and author of “Under the Mango Tree”
(A compilation of short articles about bromeliads) even wrote a brief poem to
highlight this undesirable feature:

Billbergias flower during
winter and spring,

Blink and you'll miss the
whole blooming thing.

This particular Billbergia
belongs to a group known as the “helicoid” or “watch spring” billbergias. This
is because the tightly wound up petals are said to resemble a wound up watch
spring, and are different to the petals on other Billbergias which are usually just
outwardly curved.

You can see them more clearly in this close-up

An interesting bit of trivia
is that Billbergia zebrina is said to be the oldest cultivated helicoid on
record and was first described in 1826 as a “Bromelia” in plate 2686 of the
‘Botanical Magazine’ and transferred to the Billbergia family the next year.

The other interesting features are only seen with helicoid Billbergias are the seed capsules, which as they swell are “warty” looking, silvery coloured and ovoid in shape and remain in situ until the seed is ripe enough to harvest; so although the flowers and coloured bracts are long gone, there is still this secondary interesting feature which looks like it's been dusted with a silvery, white coloured powder which gives them an unusual attractive appearance.

All the best, Nev.

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Comments (5)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years ago
Great pix and great info. Thank you.

tj
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
10 years ago
I wonder whats the point of such short bloom periods for plants? I have a Pachypodium sp. that blooms about one day. I am not kidding. Talk about blink and miss.
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splinter1804
Original Author
10 years ago
Stan - When I grew orchids many years ago I had an orchid species which I had grown for about fifteen years and although it flowered every year, I never once saw the fresh flowers, only the evidence (dead flowers) that it had bloomed.

It wasn't until another grower pointed out to me that this plant was a "night bloomer" and the flowers were only out for about one hour before they died and closed up. The reason was that it was only pollinated by a certain type of moth at a certain time of the night. I forget the name of the orchid but I do know I still don't know what the flowers looked like.

So Mother Nature has some strange tricks she plays on us but there is usually a reason. With the particular Billbergia I posted above, every year those capsules are full of seed and it's my belief that it's a "self pollinator", and for that reason it doesn't need to stay out any longer, just long enough for pollination to occur.

All the best, Nev.
PRO
Lars/J. Robert Scott
10 years ago
A lot of the Tillandsia flowers are short-lived - a large one that I have has a lot of bracts now, and so there are new flowers open each day, but they only last about one day each. I have a Vriesea with a similar pattern:

For short-lived flowers, Queen of the Night epiphyllum are the worst, as the flowers do not open until dark and are gone well before morning. Therefore I have mine on my front stoop, but I still have to remember to go outside to see it. Now I have a security camera on it, and I will see if it moves enough to start the camera - it hasn't bloomed since I put the camera up, but if I know it is about to bloom, I can set the camera to stay on continuously, I think. The flowers open so quickly that I have seen them move, but I do not know if this is enough to set off a motion detector.

Sometimes I find new bromeliad flower stalks and mistake them for old flowers, and so I am careful not to cut old flowers without making sure.
splinter1804
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi everyone.

Sorry to be getting off topic
a bit but as orchids and bromeliads are great growing companions, I didn’t
think you would mind.

Stan – I had an Australian
native orchid once (Rhinerrhiza
divitiflora) which flowered every year but because it was so short lived (1-2
days) and always seemed to flower while I was at work, it was about six years
before I actually saw the flowers fully open.

The flowers were nothing
spectacular but was interesting botanically, and the roots were rough just like
a small thin rasp, hence the common name of “Raspy Root” Orchid

See: http://www.orchidspecies.com/rhindivitiflora.htm

All the best, Nev.