This choice and distinctive xerophytic bromeliad has taken a rather circuitous and storied route to make it into more general cultivation. Braun & Esteves describe some of the twists and turns in their very readable description of the subspecies in the Cactus and Succulent Journal in 2010 (Vol. 82(2): 60-63). In 1995 Dorothy Byer gave us an offset of this lovely, pale-leaved Orthophytum. When O. toscanoi subsp. atropurpureum was published, we realized what we had. Though slow to offset, tissue culture has once again afforded more rapid propagation, allowing for this distribution. Rooted plants from tissue culture of HBG 76224. The subspecies is known only from the type locality, ca. 920 m, in the vicinity of Ribeirão da Tábua, Minas Gerais, Brazil. $7.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 85 (2), March - April, 2013