Tillandsia loliacea Martius ex J.A. Schultes & J.H. Schultes (1830: 1204)

Rossado, Andrés J., Donadío, Sabina & Bonifacino, José M., 2024, A taxonomic revision of Tillandsia (Tillandsioideae, Bromeliaceae) from Uruguay, Phytotaxa 667 (1), pp. 1-90 : 1-90

8. Tillandsia loliacea Martius ex J.A. Schultes & J.H. Schultes (1830: 1204) . Figs. 16B , 25 , and 26. Type (holotype):— BRAZIL. [Bahia] “Provinciae Bahiensis”: “Habitat in rupibus M. Sancti ”, March–April [1818], Martius s.n .

(M0111403 [online image!]).

Plants acaulescent or very short-stemmed, not to few-branched and then forming small clumps up to 9 cm in diameter. Roots ca. 0.5 mm in diameter, only present at the base of the stem. Leaves spirally arranged, clustered forming rosettes, grayish-green; sheaths 3–6 mm wide, gradually merging into blades, basal half glabrous, apical half densely lepidote; blades 11–30 × 2.5–7 mm, suberect to divergent, narrowly triangular, channelled from the base to almost the apex, fleshy, densely lepidote throughout, trichomes asymmetric to symmetric. Inflorescences simple; peduncles almost totally covered by bracts, 1.6–7 cm long, 0.6–0.8 mm in diameter, subdensely lepidote or seldom sparsely lepidote; peduncle bracts 5 to 6 in number (the basal ones leaf-like), erect, evenly distributed along the peduncle, slightly longer than the internodes; upper peduncle bract bladeless or with very short acumen-like blade, 7.5–17 × 2.7–4.1 mm, narrowly oblong to narrowly elliptic, grayish-green, densely lepidote. Spike distichously and subdensely to laxly 3 to 7-flowered, 13–40 mm long, complanate, linear; rachis for most part exposed, grayish-green or grayish-vinaceous, densely to subdensely lepidote. Floral bracts 4–10 × 3–4.6 mm, shorter to slightly longer than the sepals, subdensely to laxly distributed (1.1–1.4 times longer than the internodes), not imbricate, clasping the basal half of the flower, bladeless or with very short acumen-like blade, ovate to elliptic-ovate, to widely ovate, ecarinate, grayish-green to grayish-vinaceous, sometimes grayish-stramineous towards the apex, densely lepidote. Flowers 8–10 mm long, scentless; sepals visible but mostly hidden by the floral bract, 5–8.2 × 1.5–1.9 mm, evenly short connate at the base for 0.8–1.5 mm, narrowly elliptic, ecarinate, greenish or yellowish, usually with reddish-vinaceous spots especially towards the base but sometimes throughout, glabrous or with few scattered trichomes at the apex; petals 7.8–9 × ca. 1.5–2 mm, lingulate; distal portion yellow, divergent to spreading, margins entire; stamens ca. 3.5 mm long, deeply included, a little longer than the pistil; filaments ca. 2–2.5 mm long, straight (not plicate); pollen yellow-orangish; pistil 2–2.8 mm long, deeply included; ovary 1.4–1.9 × ca. 1 mm, obovoid-subprismatic, abruptly contracted into the style; style 0.6–1.1 mm long, shorter than the ovary, whitish; stigmas simple-truncate. Capsules 22–30 × 1.1–1.8 mm, much exceeding its respective floral bract, cylindrical-prismatic, apex truncate and short-beaked.

Vernacular names:— Not known.

Classification:— Tillandsia loliacea belongs to T. subg. Diaphoranthema ( Smith & Downs 1977; Donadío et al. 2015, 2022).

Distribution and habitat: — Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. In Brazil, Tillandsia loliacea is widely distributed from northwestern to west-central and southern Brazil. Its nearest populations to Uruguay are found in Rio Grande do Sul state, where it was recently reported for a few western localities ( Büneker et al. 2015). In Argentina, this species occurs throughout the north of the country, growing mainly as epiphyte in open forests, with the populations closest to Uruguay occurring in Corrientes province. There, T. loliacea is common in the north but scarce in the south, near the border with Uruguay ( Fig. 26 ).

In Uruguay, Tillandsia loliacea has been reported from a single locality in northwestern Artigas department, where it occurs exclusively as epiphyte in a transitional woodland between open thorn forests and riverside forests. There, T. loliacea grows in partly shaded conditions, on trunks and branchlets with other species of Tillandsia such as T. aëranthos , T. bandensis , T. recurvata , and T. tricholepis . The population in Uruguay, along with those in southern Corrientes ( Argentina), represent the southern limits of distribution for this species ( Rossado et al. 2018b).

Phenology:— Due to the limited availability of specimens, it was not possible to study the phenology of Tillandsia loliacea in detail for this work. Flowers have been recorded in September and October, and fruits in March, July, and September.

Reproductive observations:— Only one or two flowers are open at the same time per inflorescence ( Fig. 25D ). According to Gomes et al. (2020), Tillandsia loliacea is a self-compatible species.

Conservation:— We consider Tillandsia loliacea as Threatened in Uruguay. So far, only one population of this species has been recorded in Uruguay with less than 10 individuals, inhabiting a small patch of forest (approx. 2 ha) located in an area under strong agricultural pressure. Further, T. loliacea is not present in any national protected areas. Given these facts, there is a high risk that the species might become extinct in Uruguay.

Diagnostic characters:— In Uruguay, Tillandsia loliacea is the only species of the genus that forms basal rosettes and has small floral bracts (up to 10 mm long).

Background in Uruguay:— Tillandsia loliacea was recently reported for the first time for Uruguay by Rossado et al. (2018b). However, it is worth mentioning that Mez (1894), in Flora Brasiliensis, cited Uruguay as part of the distribution of this species based on the specimen Balansa 619 (G00493946). We consider this citation to be an error in the publication since the label of the specimen Balansa 619 clearly states “Paraguay” (and thus not Uruguay) as the country of origin of the collection. Castellanos (1945) mentioned Uruguay as part of the distribution for T. loliacea as well, but no specimen endorsing such information was cited. The first specimen of this species collected in Uruguay is from 2014.

Representative specimens examined:— URUGUAY. Artigas: Arrocera RIUSA - al sur del A° Mandiyú , 28 September 2014, Villagrán et al. s.n. ( MVJB 30693 ) .

Figures

FIGURE 16. Illustrations of floral parts. A. Tillandsia capillaris. B. T. loliacea. C. T. virescens. D. T. tricholepis. E. T. recurvata. F. T. usneoides. From left to right: floral bract (stretched view), sepals (stretched view; adaxial sepals to the right), petal (stretched view), and pistil.A based on Rossado 404 (MVFA); B based on Villagrán et al. s.n. (MVJB 30693); C based on Rossado 362 (MVFA); D based on Rossado 363 (MVFA); E based on Rossado 415 (MVFA); F based on Rossado et al. 406 (MVFA).

FIGURE 25. Tillandsia loliacea.A. Habitat; between the Uruguay River and Colonia Palma (Artigas, Uruguay). B. Plant on an urban tree (surroundings of the city of Corrientes, Corrientes, Argentina). C. Habit (between the Uruguay River and Colonia Palma). D. Close up of the fertile part of the inflorescence. E. Front view of the flower. F. Infructescence. G. Capsule. Photos by Andrés Rossado.

FIGURE 26. Distribution map of Tillandsia loliacea in Uruguay and neighboring areas.