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stone_jaguar

Aechmea allenii

stone_jaguar
14 years ago

Greetings:

Aechmea allenii L. B. Smith is a showy Panamanian endemic that appears to be relatively uncommon in horticulture outside of its country of origin. In the wild, it is usually encountered as a fairly large epiphyte in warm cloud forests along the Continental Divide, and at some localities in Veraguas Province can attain rosette diameters in excess of 1.20 m/4'.

Panamanians call this sp., "El Rosadón" which, freely-translated, means "Big Pink" an apt common name for this large, handsome bromeliad. Many orchid growers there have these plants in their gardens, and I have seen very well-grown plants established on trees in Panamá City and Chorrera.

This particular clone is from about 800 m/2,500' elevation near El Valle de Antón in Coclé Province...hard culture has dwarfed it a bit, so that the plant flowered at a more manageable size (for me) of about 60 cm/2' across.

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/stonejaguar/Aechmeaalleniihabit.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa270/stonejaguar/Aechmeaalleniiinfl.jpg[/IMG]

While the mature inflorescence is quite attractive, IMO, these plants are at their very best for the initial two or three weeks of the flowering cycle when the immature infl. nestles in the central cup like a hot pink artichoke.

Cheerio,

JPV

Comments (11)

  • gonzer_gw
    14 years ago

    Stone, on Photobucket just copy the HTML tagline and paste it into your post. Instant pic. BTW, long time no see!

  • stone_jaguar
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Gonz:

    Thanks. Like a dim-witted chimp pounding away at random on a keyboard, I had FINALLY figured out which of the three PB options was the one I wanted, only to have the board deny me a third post until someone else posted in-between.

    *Sigh*

    I mean, how hard can this be, right?

    {{gwi:496730}}

    {{gwi:496732}}

    J

  • aroideana
    14 years ago

    Choice Jay , have not seen this one around here . No doubt the good doctor will have some . I just flowered a Ae. hoppii I grew from seed and its infl.looked a bit like your pics .

  • kerry_t_australia
    14 years ago

    Hi J,
    Thanks for those images - glad you got that sorted.
    Yes, that is a very nice Aechmea species. I certainly don't see it in Australian collections - well, not the real deal anyway. I have seen an Aechmea labeled as such in Oz, but it turned out to be Ae. smithiorum var. longistipitata (not even close to your allenii). Have you got any photos of the immature inflo?

    BTW - If you change the title of the post, or just add another word, the GW board allows you to repeat post on the same thread without someone else posting in between.

    Cheers,
    Kerry

  • gonzer_gw
    14 years ago

    Stone, that is very visual, great shot

  • LisaCLV
    14 years ago

    That is a nice looking species, Jay. I wonder why it's not grown more. I didn't realize it was a large plant, somehow I'd got the impression it was smallish, and also that the inflorescence is short-lived like a Billbergia. Is that part true?

    Re: the technical end of things, check the preview before you click "submit". If it doesn't show what you want, you can keep making corrections in the box below and continue previewing them until you get it right. As Kerry says, a simple change to the heading is enough to allow you to post twice in a row.

  • stone_jaguar
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks all.

    Lisa, the infl. is rather short-lived for an Aechmea spp., but certainly nothing like a Bill. For reference, this one has been in about this state for about 10 days and has a lot of life left still in it. The imm. state which, as I mentioned, is how the look their best, lasts several weeks. So, just as an estimate, I would say that infls. look great>very nice between 6-9 weeks. I will post an image of a developing one when I return to the office on Wednesday.

    I have found major colonies of these plants in Veraguas that were fully as huge and impressive as wild A. mariae-reginae. Unlike that sp. these appear to prefer shady spots undercanopy, rather than up in the treetops in blaze-oreum territory.

    Miguel...like you, I have a fairly good selection of what used to be considered Streptocalyx spp., incl A. hoppii...I think all these plants are wildly under-rated altho', admittedly, some of them are pretty BIG!

    Cheerio,

    J

  • neomea
    14 years ago

    Ha, quite surprisingly I have this species! Now if I could just remember where I planted it!

    Thanks for the pics JÂ.

  • stone_jaguar
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Howdy:

    I have included a photo below of a plant grown as an epiphyte in a highland garden in central Panamá with a developing infl. Based on the date that I took this photo plus others that I have observed both here and there, it appears that allenii is a Fall bloomer in the northern hemisphere.

    {{gwi:496734}}

    J

  • catkim
    14 years ago

    'Big Pink' indeed, 4 ft. in diameter! Sometimes green broms are unexciting when not in bloom, but I imagine the size of this plant makes a statement even without the inflo, yes? Are shape and form pleasing to the eye, as in the case of Alcantarea imperialis?

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