Day Four of our safari 16 June 2015

The goal today was to reach the city of Catamayo in the province of Loja. This is a long journey through the Inter-Andean valley, crossing moors, Andean forest and the ever-striking canyon of the Leon River near Ona, which is a xerophytic area with abundant Tillandsia whose leaves are covered in cinereous indumentum (silvery-gray scales).

As we started to climb the Matanga Paramo we could see inflorescences of T. stenoura emerging from the treetops in remnants of forest. In the inner branches were abundant populations of large specimens of T. complanata. Both species are pollinated by hummingbirds, so it is easy to find a natural hybrid with characteristics of both, with a terminal inflorescence and a number of lateral inflorescences emerging from the base of leaves.

When we reached the Ona river valley, the species that caught our attention was T. caerulea (Fig. 10). The branches of the acacia trees were covered with thousands of these flowering Tillandsia. They were growing in spherical groups consisting of hundreds of plants in each sphere. Their blue flowers filled the air with a delicate fragrance.

Among the acacias were also several species of cacti. Espostoa lanata was one of them, with some T. latifolia var. divaricata on its stems and other green creepers with harpoon-like thorns that clung to clothes and shoes. It was not easy to remove these hooked thorns that stuck to us.

On the vertical walls near the banks of the Leon river, grows T. lymanii with its hanging red-green inflorescences. Another very common species is Puya lanata, with succulent gray leaves forming its base. Unfortunately we saw no Puya lanata in bloom. Along with all these bromeliads we could not miss the T. tectorum forming large gray masses and a few isolated specimens of T. secunda var. major.

Finally we arrived in Catamayo, settled into our hotel and prepared for the following day's adventure in search of the difficult to find Guzmania poortmanii.

Day Five of our safari: 17 June 2015

Today's goal was to find the famous Guzmania poortmanii. This species was published in 1889 as Thecophyllum poortmanii by Andre, from a collection made by H. Poortman between Cangonama and Chinchanga, in the province of Loja. Since its publication, 127 years have passed without any additional collection, which indicates the possibility that this species is now extinct. Habitats have been deforested and dedicated to agriculture, and there are no remnants of forests in this area. The main characteristic of this Guzmania is that it has violet flowers, which makes it unique within the genus Guzmania.

In spite of the above, we left with great anticipation in search of finding a blooming specimen of this beautiful Guzmania. Within an hour of leaving Catamayo we reached an area we thought might contain a population of G. poortmanii.

Along the road we could see groups of Tillandsia latifolia var. divaricata, but the predominant species in this area was Tillandsia hitchcockiana (previously Vriesea hitchcockiana)....