Guzmania melinonis
Content
Description
Plant acaulescent, 25-45 cm tall, with a funnelform rosette of about 10 or morelustrous-green leaves. Leaves subchartaceous, 30-55 cm long, much exceeding the inflorescence; sheaths more or less distinct, tapering into the blade, elliptic, 10-13.5 x 5-6 cm, densely and minutely appressed-lepidotewith pale-brown scales, pale dull-brown; blades arching, ligulate, with distinctly veined surface when dry, 24-45 x 2-4(-6.3) cm, attenuately acute or obtuse and acuminate, sparsely and minutely appressed-lepidote or subglabrous. Inflorescence simple 10-28 cm long; scape erect or curved, appearing stout by its bracts, 5-20 cm long, glabrous, densely covered by bracts; scape bracts erect, densely imbricate, chartaceous, ovate, with narrow-triangular blade or more acuminate, 2-3 times as long as the internodes, sparsely appressed-lepidote at least at the apex; spike (slenderly) ellipsoid, 6-8,5 x 2-3 cm, obtuse or acutish, densely and polystichously 8-15-flowered, often entirely fertile at the apex; rachis hidden, straight, angled(?), glabrous; floral bracts erect, densely imbricate, chartaceous, with veined surface when dry, elliptic, (2-)3.4-4 cm long, about 5 times as long as the internodes, about twice as long as the sepals, with broad hyaline margins, broadly rounded and apiculate to emarginate, ecarinate, subglabrous, often obscurely lepidote toward the apex, bright orange. Flowers erect, sessile; sepals coriaceous, with even surface, elliptic, 1-2 cm long, with membranaceous margins, obtuse, slightly incurved at the apex, less than half connate, ecarinatebut the posterior ones with thickened midvein below, often castaneous, glabrous; petals 3-4 cm long (exceeding the floral bracts), ligulate, obtuse, connat for most of their lengthe, with slightly spreading lobes, yellow; stamens included, just exceeding the pistil, filaments flat(?), adnate to the petal-tube, anthers dorsifixed, ca. 6 mm long; ovary ovoid, ca. 6 mm long. Capsule cylindric, 3.5-4 cm long, long beaked; coma white.
Distribution
Amazonian Brazil present, French Guiana present, Greater Antilles present, Southern America: Bolivia (Bolivia present); Colombia (Colombia present); Ecuador (Ecuador present); Panamá (Panamá present), Surinam present
Panama, Greater Antilles, Colombia, Surinam, French Guiana, Ecuador, Bolivia and Amazonian Brazil. 10 collections studied.
Cultivation
Easily grown at a shady and humid location; a beautiful single-spiked bright colored Guzmania , unfortunately, the color does not last very long.