Bromeliad Cultivar Register (11009) 2012-09-22

*AECHMEA ‘Mild Chilli’*	Deroose R, Hudson L*	1991
During the Cairns World Bromeliad Conference in June, 2008 I photographed a stunning berried Aechmea with the curious label "1449" in Lynn & Bob Hudson's bromeliad collection in Cairns, Queensland. I didn't recognise it and nearly 3 years later requested information with a view to registration if it was "new" and unrecorded. This distinctive cultivar was imported into Australia in 2000 by the Olive Branch nursery, Brisbane from Paul Deroose at Deroose Nursery's Florida branch. Enquiries led to its breeder Reginald Deroose, manager of the Belgium branch of Deroose nursery. Together with my research and Reginald & Marjolein Deroose's breeding records (coded entry A1449 = A2 x 405), this cultivar's parentage is Ae. 'Reginald' (the variegated form of 'Maginali') x "ramosa hybrid", bred circa 1991. Reginald advised that this latter pollen parent was probably either Ae. ramosa x.fulgens var. discolor or ramosa x fulgens var. fulgens, 2 clones which were not named (Nat Deleon hybrids) but tissue-cultured by Deroose nursery until a few years ago. A1449 was never named but commercially released under code number only, briefly around 2000, then this production line was discontinued. Lynn Hudson nominated to call this hybrid Aechmea 'Mild Chilli' which Marjolein Deroose agreed to put on their nursery's cultivar name records. Aechmea 'Mild Chilli' is largish at 50cms. diameter and 60cms. tall in spike. The open vase-shaped rosette with pliant, lustrous red-spined foliage is discolor, here meaning a green leaf obverse and reddish maroon reverse. The upright, red-stemmed., densely-branched panicle of coral red ovoid berries has cream petals which turn black once spent. Blooming over Summer and Autumn like many hybrids with ancestry of Ae. miniata var. discolor and/or Ae. fulgens var. discolor, the long-lasting inflorescence eventually turns a burnished red. Reg Doc 3/2011 Country of origin: Belgium
Seed Parent: Reginald	Pollen Parent: ramosa hybrid
Geoff Lawn, BSI Cultivar Registrar, J Brom Soc 61(2)92-93, 2011

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A Mild Chilli photo Bob Hudson.JPG' not found.