The BromeliAdvisory

June 2004 

Volume 47, Number 6


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This Month’s Speaker -


         Adrian Hunsberger:

 

Adrian Hunsberger is an entomologist / horticulturist with the UF/IFAS Miami Dade Extension office. She writes a column “Plant Clinic” in the Miami Herald. Adrian will be speaking about the EVIL WEEVIL, Mosquitos and Bromeliads, Good Insects and Bromeliads among other related topics.


          Ms Hunsberger’s contact information is:

          Plant Clinic, 18710 S.W. 288th St

          Homestead, FL 33030;

          email aghu@ifas.ufl.edu


         Member Plant Sales Are On


See You


Tuesday June 1st 7:30 pm


Please turn off your cell Phones.


B-I-N-G-O and bromeliads were the prize - O ...

 

            I missed this meeting but everyone said bingo was a blast. Last month we had our annual show and sale and I loved it. Michael Schmale is preparing an organized gallery of the winners that will be posted on the web and Lynne Fieber is preparing her powerpoint presentation for next month’s meeting so we can review all the glorious plants and inflorescences. I myself have created a gallery of the images I took and they are posted on the website under the gallery button.

            To access the images

            1) Go to www.timewolf.net/BSSF or

                 www.bromeliadsareafamily.com and

            2) Select gallery on the left frame.

            3) Then there will be choices as to which gallery to see.

 

If you have any problem seeing the selection menu try pushing the F5 button that will “refresh” your view of the page.


Special Thanks go to Dean Fairchild and Ken Marks along with all our judges and vendors for coming down to Miami and making the BSSF Show possible.


Thanks to Troop 336 of the BSA for working as our “Bromeliad Minions” – Be Prepared!


Many thanks to Bullis Bromeliads for their generous contribution for the judges

                                                                

2004 Show Winners

 

Division Winners:

Div. I Best Blooming Bromeliad - Alcantarea vinicolor - Bullis Bromeliads

Div. II Best Non-Blooming Bromeliad - Vriesea (hieroglyphica x gigantea) - Ed Prince

Div. III Best Artistic - “Sunshine in the Everglades” (Hohenbergia stellata,c) - Lila Tell

 

Special Awards:

            Sweepstakes -Josefa Leon

Raph Davis Memorial for Outstanding Culture - Pitcairnia tabuliformis - Shirley Allen

            Harvey R. Bullis Jr. Memorial for Best Variegated Bromeliad

                         Aechmea ‘Ensign’ - Josefa Leon

            Judges Entry - Tillandsia streptophylla - Anne Kauffman

Habitat - Vriesea erythrodactylon - Connie Johnson

 

 


 

Section Winners:

Div. I - Blooming Bromeliads

Silver

            Pitcairnia - tabuliformis - Shirley Allen

            Inter-Generic - X Neotanthus ‘Cardboard’ - Shirley Allen

            Inter-Generic - X Neophytum ‘Ralph Davis’ - Robert Mills

            Tillandsia - funckiana - Ed Prince

            Wittrockia - cyathiformis - Kris Green

            Billbergia - manarae - Kris Green

            Orthophytum - sp. Novo (aff burle-marxii) - Kris Green

            Aechmea - ‘Patricia’ - Bullis Bromeliads

Inter Generic - X Andromea ‘Dean’ (Androlepis skinneri x Aechmea) - Bullis Bromeliads

            Canistrum - seidelianum - Josefa Leon

            Neoregelia - ‘Close of Day’ - Josefa Leon

            Guzmania - (lingulata x conifera) - Josefa Leon

Bronze

            Tillandsia - harrisii - Ed Prince

            Aechmea - fendleri - Pete Kouchalakos

            Neoregelia - ‘Picasso’ - Josefa Leon

            Neoregelia - ‘Raphael’ - Josefa Leon

 

 


Div. II - Non-Blooming Bromeliads

Silver

            Inter-Generic - X Neophytum ‘Burgundy Hill’ - Ed Prince

            Dyckia - “Brittle Star F2" - Ed Prince

            Tillandsia - cyanea (variegated) - Connie Johnson

            Werauhia - kupperiana - Bullis Bromeliads

            Hohenbergia - correia-araujoi - Bullis Bromeliads

            Billbergia - ‘Hallelujah’ - Josefa Leon

            Aechmea - ‘Ensign’ - Josefa Leon

            Neoregelia - ‘Angel Face’ - Josefa Leon

            Alcantarea - vincolor - Mike Michalski

Bronze

            Neoregelia - (punctatissima x ‘Hannibal Lecter’) -

                          Ed Prince

            Neoregelia - ‘Harlequin’ - Josefa Leon

 

 

Div. III - Artistic

Decorative Container

Silver

            Tillandsia circinata & ionantha - Nancy Steinmetz

 


Biological Vocabulary Builders

Entomology: the scientific study of insects.

 

Zoology: That Part of biology which relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct. (Supposedly Aristotle invented zoology but I bet you some Egyptian beat him to it.)

 

Weevil: Any one of numerous species of snout beetles, or Rhynchophora, in which the head is elongated and usually curved downward. Many of the species are very injurious to cultivated plants. The larvae of some of the species live in nuts, fruit, and grain by eating out the interior, as the plum weevil, or curculio, the nut weevils, and the grain weevil.

 

Vascular Bundles: are clusters of xylem and phloem conducting elements that conduct food, water, and minerals throughtout the plant. Plants are able to live on land because they have the vascular tissue for the nourishment of the cells as does the vascular tissue of animal cells.

 

Xylem: Primarily, the water conducting tissue in plants, though it also carries dissolved nutrients. The xylem pumps the water from the roots into the stem and leaves of the plant. Compare with phloem.

Phloem: The food conducting tissue in plants. The phloem circulates the products of the leaves, which include sugar, down to the roots. Compare with xylem.

 

Meristem Tissue: is one of the basic types of plant tissue. The primary growth of a plant, which is the growth that occurs from the tips of its roots and stems, and the secondary growth, which is the increase in the plant's girth, are both the result of meristem tissue growth. The meristem is the most important of the plant's tissues; all other tissues originate from it.

 

Cambium Tissue: Primary growth in plants is accomplished by the apical meristem, which accomplishes the elongation of the plant. Secondary growth is made possible by the lateral meristem, which increases the girth of the plant. This actively growing tissue is generally only present in woody species and is called the cambium. It produces xylem and phloem.

 

Angiosperm: term denoting seed plants in which the ovules, or young seeds, are enclosed within the ovary (that part of the pistil specialized for seed production), in contrast to the gymnosperms, in which the seeds are not enclosed within an ovary. The angiosperms constitute the division Magnoliophyta and include all agricultural crops (including the cereal grains and other grasses), all garden flowers and most horticultural plants, all the common broad-leaved shrubs and trees, and all the usual field, garden, and roadside weeds. The angiosperms are the most economically important group of all plants.

 

 

                                                                            Sources (1) (2)

 


Name that Plant

Thanks to Moyna Prince for relating to me the history of May’s entry.

 

The Answer:                      Tillandsia Victoria 

 

Tillandsia Victoria was made by Mulford Foster in 1943. It is a hybrid of T. ionantha x brachycaulos. He named it in honor of Victoria Padilla, who was an original member of the BSI and a long-time editor of the Journal. According to the Cultivar Registry, T. Victoria also occurs as a natural hybrid in Mexico.

bssf06041.gifEd Prince’s Plant

This month’s plant

It was at the BSSF May Show, it’s Red, and its this months plant

 Those are the clues plus the pictures.

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Now since this is a black and white print I’ve also made available some color images published on the web. www.timewolf.net/BSSF/namethatplant

(Case Sensitive!) Good Luck Contestants!

Name that Plant!

Check here next month for the answer.


Internet Botany Encyclopedias and Hyper-Textbooks

 

Gerald D. CARR - University of Hawaii:
Vascular Plant Families - approx. 1350 images, repesenting about 235 families
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/pfamilies.htm

 

H. G. RICHTER & Mike DALLWITZ - University of Hamburg & CSIRO Entomology, Canberra
Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/wood/

 

Heinz SCHNEIDER - Botanisches Institut der Universität Basel
Botanische Bilddatenbank
http://www.unibas.ch/botimage/

 

USDA - United States Department of Agriculture:
PLANTS National Data Base
http://plants.usda.gov/plants/index.html

 

Ken HILL, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney:
The intriguing world of Cycads - Survivors from before the dinosaurs!
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.gov.au/PlantNet/cycad/cycintro.html/  

 

Christopher J. EARLE - Seattle, WA:
Gymnosperm Database
http://www.conifers.org/

 

Palm & Cycad Societies of Florida (PACSOF):
Virtual Cycad Encyclopedia
http://www.plantapalm.com/vce/vce_index.htm

 

Palm & Cycad Societies of Florida (PACSOF):
Virtual Palm Encyclopedia
http://www.plantapalm.com/vpe/vpe_index.htm  

 

The Museum of Paleontology - University of California, Berkeley:
Introduction to the Plantae
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/plants/plantae.html

 

Nan Crystal ARENS - The Museum of Paleontology - University of California, Berkeley:
The Evolution of Plants through Geologic Time
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/IB181/HpageIB181.html

 

Russell STEVENS, Chuck COFFEY & Mike HADDOCK - Noble Foundation Ardmore, Oklahoma:
Plant Image Gallery
http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/

 

Mike CLAYTON - University of Wisconsin - Madison:
Plant Systematics Collection
http://www.wisc.edu/botit/Systematics/index.html

 

Hugh D. WILSON - Texas A & M University:
Flowering Plant Gateway
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/newgate/cronang.htm

 

Dan SKEAN - Albion College:
Vascular Plant Image Gallery
http://www.albion.edu/plants/

Baltic Sea - Alg@line:
Alg@line phytoplankton image gallery
http://www2.fimr.fi/project/algaline/

 

 

compiled by: Alice Bergfeld & Peter v. Sengbusch -

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                                               b-online@botanik.uni-hamburg.de


Membership News:

We're happy to welcome the following, who joined the society at our show:

    Bill Edwards, 21950 SW 177 Ave., Miami, FL 33170.

            305-247-7628

    Bill and his wife operate a nursery, A Heavenly Garden.


The second new member is

    Zoila Schoenberger, 8817 S.W. 113 Place Circle Way,

    Miami, FL 33176. 786-263-0184

Bert Foster, Mulford Foster’s son, passed away on May 6th 2004. He was 85 years old.


Bert was the most widely respected landscape architect in central Florida area. He received many awards for his designs, which included planned communities like Metro West and Isleworth, and the local community college.

In addition to being the son of the famed bromeliad pioneer Mulford Foster, Bert was a respected hybridizer himself. Here in south Florida his name will live on in the popular Aechmea 'Bert', the cross made by his father using Aechmea orlandiana and Aechmea fosteriana in 1945.

George J. Acton, Lavinia's husband, died on May 16th.

Former Director of the City of Miami Planning Department, he received a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan, a Master's Degree in Urban Planning from Wayne State University in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was a registered Architect in the states of Florida and Michigan.


Name Tags for New Members

are available from Connie Johnson. Call her at 305-275-8595 to order yours. They are free the first time; there’s a nominal charge for replacements. Folks, please wear your name tags! It simplifies things for everyone.

 

Sales Tables

Will Be Open to for Members to sell

 

Show and Tell

The Usual Suspects; Nat Leon, Steve Correale and a host thousands.

 

Raffle Table

Alan & Rhonda Herndon

 

Door Prize

Robert Mills

 

Library

Lynne Fieber will have the library open from 7:00pm to 7:30 pm. Please return any books and publications you’ve checked out.

 

Refreshments

Sandy Roth, Patty Gonzalez, Joan Manley and Donna Pearce will feed us at our June meeting.Coming In June:

 

June 25th - 27th 2004

24th Annual Sarasota Bromeliad Society Show and Sale Selby Botanical Gardens 811 S. Palm Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236 Sale only on June 25th Sale and Show June 26th and 27th Rare Plant auction and banquet 6:00 pm June 26th

Show chairman Rob Branch 941-358-4953

 

June 11th 2004

Cassini Space Probe reaches Saturn’s most distant moon Phoebe.

In 1981 Voyager passed by Phoebe and took pictures from 2.2 million kilometers. Cassini will pass 2000 kilometers from Phoebe and will scan it with cameras (CCD), spectrometers and radar. Phoebe orbits Saturn in a retrograde orbit (backwards) and is suspected of being either from the Kuiper Belt or of the Centaur Group. If so then Phoebe may be a primordial object created at the very beginning of the Solar System and kept pristine by the cold of space and its own dark surface.

Discovered more than 100 years ago by American astronomer William Pickering, Phoebe is a source of extensive interest by scientists.

As it gears up for its four-year grand tour of the Saturn region, the Cassini Mission will gather as much sensitive data and high-resolution images as possible from its monumental flyby of this tiny moon.

The event hopes to answer questions-and perhaps generate new ones, about Phoebe and its possible role in determining how the solar system was formed. (3)


Bromelain

What Is It?

Bromelain is the name of a group of powerful protein-digesting, or proteolytic, enzymes that are found in the pineapple plant (Ananas comosus). Discovered in 1957, and widely studied since then, bromelain is particularly useful for reducing muscle and tissue inflammation and as a digestive aid. Supplements are made from enzymes found in the pineapple stem.

Health Benefits

Bromelain is a natural blood thinner and anti-inflammatory. It works by breaking down fibrin, a blood-clotting protein that can impede good circulation and prevent tissues from draining properly. Bromelain also blocks the production of compounds that can cause swelling and pain. When inflammation is reduced, blood can move more easily to a traumatized area, easing pain and speeding healing.

Possible Side Effects

Bromelain is generally considered safe, even at high doses.

Avoid taking if you have a active gastric or duodenal ulcer.

Some people have occasionally reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, excess menstrual bleeding, or skin rash when taking medicinal doses of bromelain.

Bromelain can cause an allergic reaction (red or itchy eyes, sneezing, running nose, irritated throat) in people who are sensitive to it.

Cautions

Check with your doctor before taking bromelain if you're on prescription anti-inflammatory medication.         (4)





Notes from the Editor:

 

You may reach me at Bromeliad@timewolf.net via Email or at10011 S.W. 133rd Street Miami FL 33176 via Snail Mail.






Sources:

(1) www.slider.com is the only search engine to offer a FULL text search of the DMOZ Open Directory sites. This ensures that our index only contains the highest quality content from carefully selected sources. This eliminates most spam and other junk the internet has to offer.


(2) http://www.earthandtable.com a great gardening resource.


(3) http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/approach.cfm Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) California Institute of Technology Website.


(4) http://www.wholehealthmd.com