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Tillandsia cyanea

Pink Quill

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Image:	Flower and leaves	54KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Pink Quill

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Ecuador

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands, gardens

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental - flowers

KEY FEATURES: Stemless herb to 25cm. LEAVES basal, dark green, smooth. FLOWERS overlapping pink to magenta bracts form wide-oval shield; protruding flowers dark violet, petals 3, 4cmØ. SIMILAR: Blue-flowered Torch (Tillandsia lindenii Regel) has narrow-oval shield of bracts; flowers 8cmØ, petals royal blue [not presently recorded in Cook Islands].

SIMILAR SPECIES: Blue-flowered Torch (Tillandsia lindenii Regel) bracts pink or green (vs pink or magenta), shield narrow-oval (vs wide-oval), flowers 8cmØ (vs 4cmØ), petals royal blue base white (vs deep violet). Not presently recorded in Cook Islands.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Tillandsia cyanea Linden ex C.Koch
SYNONYMS: Tillandsia lindenii [sensu E.Morr. not Regel]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); ZINGIBERIDAE; Bromeliales; BROMELIACEAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Stemless herb to 25cm. LEAVES basal, ascending, tip down-curved, to 35x1.5cm, dark green, smooth. INFLORESENCE overlapping bracts form wide-oval shield, pink to magenta; FLOWER petals 3 spreading, deep violet, 4cmØ.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: fieldspecimen+photo, Bermie Ariihee, Arorangi, 3/2002, ID from Tropica.

References:
p.1114 Hortus 3rd
p.1158 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.224 Tropica

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM03b, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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