Jan 5, 2013

Dyckia ‘Leopoldo Witeck’ new variegated one in wilderness



One can better see this at Bromeliad Society International official site
http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=DYCKIA&id=11010#11010

(Você poderá ver melhor esta documentação científica no Site da BSI cujo endereço está ali em cima.)

 




Dyckia ‘Leopoldo Witeck’

Geoff Lawn
BSI Cultivar Registrar

In August, 2009 a Brazilian plant-hunting group made another regular excursion in uphills near Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul State to explore for hippeastrums, cacti, bromeliads, orchids and palm trees. This botanical party was led by forestry engineer and conservation consultant Professor Leopoldo Witeck Neto (from nearby Federal University of Santa Maria),  some of his biology students and accompanied by biologist Lucas Coelho from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State.

At one point the group came across a very rare find in the open mountain terrain near a rocky outcrop. Everyone got excited to see a large (about 60cms. diameter) single highly variegated Dyckia rosette with creamy yellow and green stripes,  next to a clump of green-leaved Dyckias which  were common in the area and thought to be Dyckia maritima. Lucas confirmed this variegate was not vegetatively attached to other Dyckias close by, which indicates it was a chance mutation from seed.

As BSI Cultivar Registrar I was duly notified, together with details and photos,  that Lucas Coelho wanted to name this Dyckia variegate after his friend and mentor Leopoldo Witeck. This honour is in recognition of Professor Witeck’s field work and conservation activities in the Santa Maria region, such as propagating endangered native species as for example, the rare Brazilian palm tree Thritrinax braziliensis. In 2008 Leopoldo Witeck discovered the new local species orchid Cyrtopodium witeckii  also named in his honour. See: http://sucuri.cpd.ufsm.br/noticias/files/arq/25531.pdf

Since this variegate’s exciting discovery 2 years ago, recent news is that the variegated rosette has not flowered but has produced one variegated pup. Blooming photos are needed for registration, although there are exceptions with long-term cycle cultivars. The Bromeliad Cultivar Register is primarily an aid to identify cultivars circulating in horticulture, but a single new unflowered variegate or two in one collection does not meet that requirement yet. (author’s note: now registered 12/2012)

The cultivar name D. ‘Leopoldo Witeck’ stands alone to identify this clone but does not link it to a particular species. According to the Pitcairnioideae Monograph (Smith & Downs 1977) D. maritima inhabits open rocky or turfy ground, mostly near the sea, 30-50m alt. in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul States.  Specialist Dyckia grower and consultant in Brazil Constantino Gastaldi states that the true D. maritima  has a restricted range in Rio Grande do Sul State of Torres, Passo de Torres and surroundings, close to the Atlantic Ocean.


Constantino advises also that the variegate ’Leopoldo Witeck’ is more likely D. aff. maritima  as he is aware of at least 3 clones of green-leaved D. aff. maritima at Pedra do Segredo, Caçapava, which is near Santa Maria---about 300kms inland from the Atlantic coast. Whether these clones of D. aff. maritima  represent new species only field botanists can decide. It seems the beautiful and possibly more unknown Dyckia species in Brazilian habitats need further studies to determine their botanical status.

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