Grown and it's identity queried by a number of people in north Queensland, Australia, mostly originating there as vegetative offsets from Ross Draper who obtained it there some time around 2004-7 from John Farrington with label "--[seeds collected in wilds of Brazil--ex--Ruby Ryde-]-campos portea-?-portoi-?--" (Ross Draper records), and since Ruby Ryde was active in NSW (Sydney and central coast) it may well be growing in other collections in Australia, as well as in north Queensland.
The plant grows to approximately 75cm. diameter x 75cm tall including the inflorescence. It is close to Portea petropolitana in many taxonomic characters covering both plant form and flowering, but there are differences that distinguish it clearly from any described varieties of P. petropolitana or other species of Portea, or species in other genera that it has occasionally been labelled as (see attached notes). The label information from Ross Draper combined with Ruby Ryde's travels in Brazil several decades ago suggest that this plant may be an un-described wild species, although not enough information is available to confirm this point.
This plant has been placed in the genus Portea given its close affinity in many respects to Portea petropolitana and other species in that genus, with the cultivar name 'Ruby', which acknowledges both the contribution of Ruby Ryde and the colour of the inflorescence. Reg. Doc. 5/2019 by Paul Turvey
Country of origin: Brazil
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PORTEA (8)