Vriesea heliconioides
Content
Description
Plant acaulescent, flowering to over 40 cm long, with a funnelform, 14-25 cm tall, rosette of 10-20often pale- or rich green leaves. Leaves thin, chartaceous when dry, 12-25 cm long, equaling to much exceeding the scape; sheaths distinct, tapering into the blade, elliptic, broadly convex, 5-8 x 2.5-4 cm, with broad membranaceous margins, pale-brown punctulate-lepidote, pale-brown at the base; blades arching, (linear-) lanceolate, often involute at the base, 8-20 x 2-2.7 cm, triangular subacute or rounded and apiculate, subglabrous. Inflorescence erect, simple; scape 7-18 cm long, appearing stout and entirely hidden by bracts, glabrous; scape bracts erect, densely imbricate, the lower ones foliaceous, the upper ones ovate, apiculate, more than 4 times as long as the internodes, sparsely appressed-lepidote at the apex, pale-green and often tinged with red; raceme elliptic in outline to broadly cylindric, 8-20 x 4-6 cm, emarginate, (sub-) densely and distichously (immature?) or polystichously (caused by the twisting rachis) 4-12-flowered, with a few sterile bracts below and at the apex; rachis hidden, slightly flexuous, angled, glabrous; floral bracts suberect below and spreading in upper half, loosely sheathing the flower, submembranaceous, with finely veined surface (when dry), broadly ovate, 3-4.3 cm long, about 4 times as long as the internodes, exceeding (but exposing) the sepals, rounded or deltoid-acute, apiculate, often incurved at the apex, ecarinate, (sub-)glabrous outside, minutely brown-lepidote inside, yellow-green and often with a broad red band in the middle. Flowers suberect, short-pedicellate (ca. 4 mm); sepals thin-coriaceous, finely veined when dry, lanceolate, 2.5-3 cm long, obtuse and apiculate, short-connate and finely carinate posteriorly, minutely brown-lepidote only inside; petals erect, the blade spreading, ligulate, ca. 4.5 cm long, whitish, bearing two highly adnate and entire or emarginate ligules at the base; stamens exposed, but shorter than the petals, about equaling the pistil, filaments flat at the base, not dilated apically, anthers dorsifixed (at 1/3), linear-sagittate, basal free lobes and apex obtuse; ovary ovoid, tapering from near the base toward the apex, abruptly contracted into the slender style, stigmas linear. Capsule cylindric, 3.5-5 cm long, subrounded and long beaked.