Recently the genus Cipuropsis (Vrieseeae) was resurrected in the revision of the Tillandsioideae by Barfuss et al. (2016) as a monotypic genus containing only the type species, Cipuropsis subandina Ule (1907). No species were transferred to the genus by Barfuss et al., mainly because this species could not be included in the study because the type could not be investigated phylogenetically, it is not in cultivation and known from the type collection and a few additional collections only.
Diagnostic characters of Cipuropsis subandina Ule from Barfuss et al. (2016):--Plants epiphytic or terrestrial herbs, acaulescent, forming water impounding rosettes. Leaves mesomorphic; leaf blades lingulate. Inflorescence usually compound, once or twice branched, rarely simple; floral bracts carinate, 1.5-2.5(-3) cm long; flowers distichously arranged. Sepals symmetric, 1.5-2.5(-2.7) cm long; petals yellow or white, 2.3-3 cm long, about 1/4 of their entire length conglutinated/connate into a tube, forming a tubular, actinomorphic corolla with erect, slightly spreading or recurved blades, bearing linear and entire basal appendages highly adnate to the conglutinated/connate portion of the petals; stamens shorter than the petals, included within the corolla; filaments partially agglutinated/adnate to the conglutinated/connate portion of the petals; anthers not versatile, united into a tube surrounding the stigma; pollen sulcate, exine reticulate, with a sulcus of the complex diffuse type (subtype c) or complex insulae type (subtype d); ovules obtuse; style included within the corolla; stigma of the simple-erect type.
Floral bracts and petals in the two species described below are shorter than given above, 1.3 cm for the floral bracts and to 1.7 -- 1.9 cm for the petals. Another remarkable feature in many of the species that are candidates for transfer to Cipuropsis are bi-colored floral bracts, mostly red or orange with a white or yellowish apical part.
Details on the petal structure of Cipuropsis subandina remain unknown. On the basis of available information, Vriesea dubia (L.B.Sm.) L.B.Sm. (1967) seems to be the species most closely related to C. subandina, and might be expected to provide the best model of petals in the latter species. Vriesea dubia (Fig 1) is very similar in overall habit to the two species described in this article as members of the genus Cipruopsis, but the floral morphology is very different. In V dubia the sepals slightly exceed the floral bracts, but the petals do not exceed the sepals and are cucullate, completely without spreading tips (Fig. 2).
The Andean genus Cipuropsis is distinguished from Vriesea (that is mainly from E. Brazil) by the simple-erect stigma type (Fig. 6E, vs. of the convolute-blade II type in Vriesea sensu str., see Fig. 11). It has mesomorpic (thin) leaves, water-impounding rosettes and Tillandsia like inflorescences, with relatively small densely imbricate floral bracts and small flowers, short connate white or yellow petals with two nectary scales (ligules) at the base like in Vriesea sensu str.
The newly described Cipuropsis species below, much resembles and is closely related to Tillandsia amicorum I. Ramirez & Bevilacqua (1990), therefore T. amicorum is here transferred to Cipuropsis and an...