A word about Encholirium

I don't know alot about this group of plants and I only have the 4 you see in the photo's below plus one Bigeneric that is not mine. Most I've only had a year or so and the only one large enough to flower is Angelita (Dylerium / Dyckia Encholirium Angelita) and I'm not to sure what it is.

  

 Encholirium magalhaesii ↑

 Encholirium subsecundum ↑

 Encholirium horridum ↑

Dylerium / Dyckia 

Encholirium Angelita ↑ 

x Enchotia

 Encholirium horridum x Hechtia macdougallii

(not my plant) ↑

Dyckia  Chocolate ↑

The only Dyckia with a terminal blooming spike. I guess this plant had flowered before the same way (thanks Max) that I forgot about bach in Feb. 2009.

See link.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bromeliad/msg0219241919963.html?8

Encholirium horridum doesn't produce any offset so you need to grow it from seed to get more. Encholirium Angelita does produce offsets and so does my Dyckia Chocolate. I don't know if any of the other Encholirium are like Encholirium horridum or Encholirium Angelita. If anyone know let me know.

This is a list from

FCBS Bromeliad Species Online Database:

Encholirium bahianum L.B. Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium belemii L.B. Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium brachypodum L. B. Smith & R. W. Read
Encholirium bradeanum L.B. Smith
Encholirium carmineoviridiflorum Rauh
Encholirium crassiscapum Rauh
Encholirium densiflorum Ule
Encholirium erectiflorum L.B. Smith
Encholirium glaziovii Mez
Encholirium gracile L.B. Smith
Encholirium harleyi L.B. Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium heloisae (L. B. Smith) Forzza & Wanderley
Encholirium hoehneanum L.B. Smith
Encholirium horridum L.B. Smith
Encholirium inerme Rauh
Encholirium irwinii L.B. Smith
Encholirium longiflorum Leme
Encholirium lutzii L.B. Smith
Encholirium luxor L.B. Smith & R. W. Read
Encholirium lymanianum Pereira & Martinelli
Encholirium magalhaesii L.B. Smith
Encholirium paraibae L.B.Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium patens L.B. Smith
Encholirium pedicellatum (Mez) Rauh
Encholirium pernambucanum L.B. Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium piresianum L.B. Smith & R.W. Read
Encholirium rupestre Ule
Encholirium sazimae Rauh
Encholirium scrutor (L. B. Smith) Rauh
Encholirium spectabile Martius ex Schultes f.
Encholirium subsecundum (Baker) Mez
Encholirium suzannae Rauh
Encholirium vogelii Rauh
Encholirium biflorum (Mez) Forzza
Encholirium reflexum Forzza & Wanderley
Encholirium eddie-estevesii Leme & Forzza
Encholirium maximum Forzza & Leme
Encholirium disjunctum Forzza
Encholirium ascendens Leme

Not all Encholirium have made it to this list as yet.
Like these two:


Encholirium ctenophyllum
Encholirium agavoides

Kew Royal Botanic Gardens has a list of only 23 species but as can see the list above is of 39.



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.