Encholirium 'Angelita'.

Encholirium 'Angelita'.

I just got this plant and it has a story that comes with it. Below is from

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Encholirium+'Angelita'.-a0219822486

It's not unusual for some species to circulate in cultivation for some years prior to being officially described from the wild. Some specimens escape botanists' attention entirely because the taxon in question cannot be relocated in habitat. In this situation, registering a cultivar name is desirable in this interim period as a temporary link for identification purposes. Only in exceptional cases such as Neoregelia 'Fireball' does this become a permanent solution.

In the late 1990s. Louisiana grower Terry Couthard raised a seedling batch of an unknown Dyckia from the BSI Seed Bank. One seedling matured enough to flower at an astounding 5 months old, but enquiries failed to positively identify it. This miniature matures at 10cms. diameter and pups easily, with a simple upright spike to 30cms. tall of yellow bell-like flowers . Several years later one learned suggestion was that it was a bigeneric, namely X Dylirium (Dyckia x Encholirium), but then Tropiflora Nursery in Sarasota, Florida announced that it had a uniform batch of self-set seedlings ready for release, which indicated this mystery plant was indeed a species which later proved breeds true to type .

In September, 2003 Terry Couthard registered this Dyckia as D. 'Angelita' until such time as it is botanically described. Brazilian botanist Rafaela Forzza decided two Dyckia species, D. biflorum and D. heloisae were better treated as Encholiriums in her 2001 Doctorate. This meant that all remaining Dyckia species had lateral flowering, a treatment nobody has challenged yet.

However, Dyckia 'Angelita' has terminal blooming spikes, so in March, 2009 (Uncle) Derek Butcher registered this distinctive "cultivar" as Encholirium 'Angelita', but there is a commentary link in the Bromeliad Cultivar Registry to the former name.

Geoff Lawn, BSI Cultivar Registrar

So what ever it is, I like it.