Tillandsia fasciculata
Content
Description
Plant acaulescent, including inflorescence to 55 cm long, with a narrowly crateriform, 30-40 cm tall rosette of manycinereous leaves. Leaves rigid-coriaceous, 25-45 cm long, about equaling or shorter than the inflorescence; sheaths ample, contracted into the blade (ob-)ovate, 3.5-7 x 2.2-4.5 cm, very densely brown-punctulate-lepidote, appressed-lepidote at the apex, brown or castaneous for most part; blades suberect or arching, sometimes secund, very narrowly triangular, often involute-subulate toward the apex when dry, obscurely carinate, 20-35 x 2-3 cm, long-attenuate, pungent, densely appressed-lepidote, cinereous. Inflorescence simple or digitately compound of 2-4 spikes, 33-47 cm long; scape erect, 10-25 cm long, 0.5-1 cm in diam., glabrous, concealed by the bracts and leaves; scape bracts erect, very densely imbricate, the lower ones foliaceous, the upper ones more ovate and caudate, exceeding the scape with the blades; axis very short(?); primary bracts as the upper scape bracts, (sub-) erect, much shorter than the spikes; spikes subsessile, lanceolate, complanate, 8-20 x 2.3-3.5 cm, acute, densely and distichously 5-17-flowered, with 4-10 more or less reduced sterile bracts at the base and one or a few at the apex; rachis entirely hidden, straight or sometimes curved, sharply angled when dry, glabrous; floral bracts erect, very densely imbricate, rigid-coriaceous, with even or faintly veined surface when dry, elliptic, 4.5-5.5 cm long, about 5-8 times as long as the internodes, much exceeding the sepals, with broad membranaceous margins, acutish, slightly incurved at the extreme apex, the upper ones half sharply carinate, glabrous except for the extreme apex, lustrous-green often tinged with rose, or yellowish. Flowers tubular-erect, sessile; receptacle thick, ca. 2 mm long; sepals (sub-)coriaceous, with even surface, lanceolate, 3.3-4 cm long, with broad veinless margins, acutish or obtuse, posterior ones about 2/3 connate, distinctly carinate and incurved at the apex, glabrous; petals linear, with obovate-oblong blade, rounded, to 6 cm long, blue, violet or rarely white; stamens exserted, the longest 3 exceeding the pistil by half of the anthers, filaments slender, flat, exserted part dilated and subterete, anthers dorsifixed (at 2/5), linear, ca. 6 mm long, free basal lobes ca. 0.5 mm long, with emarginate apex; ovary slender ellipsoid, contracted in the slender style, stigma cuneate, obscurely lobed. Capsule cylindric, just exceeding the sepals, ca. 4 cm long, attenuately acute or rounded and short-beaked.