A hybrid of (brachycaulos x schiedeana). Upright to 10 inches, it has rather narrow leaves and an attenuated inflorescence that forms a tightly capitate head. A late-spring bloomer, with rosy-blushing silvery leaves and yellow flowers. This is a very interesting and different-looking plant. 

This plant was named by Bill Timm, but originally imported by Tropiflora as a natural hybrid of (ionantha x paucifolia) from Guatemala. Growing to about 4 inches tall in an upright, spreading rosette of fairly soft, silvery leaves with a slight bulbous base. The foliage tints red at anthesis and the inflorescence is a short scape with purple flowers.

 

A beautiful plant that forms large colonies on the rocks of its Brazilian habitat of Cabo Frio. A caulescent lithophyte with short, stiff, green to bronzy leaves and a nice inflorescence of salmon bracts and blue flowers. Forms many offsets on the old stems. Very easy to grow in partial to full sun.

Tillandsia caputmedusae. A name that means ‘head of Medusa’. It has silvery twisty leaves and a bulbous base. The inflorescence is red and may be simple or branched. Weird, but easy to grow.

Somewhat resembles a Tillandsia brachycaulos in size and shape but less leafy. Leaves are somewhat stiff, shiny, and gray/green. The entire plant flushes pink or peach when in bloom, with a short scape. An epiphyte on shrubby trees in the scorching valleys of central Honduras. Definitely something different. Easy to grow.

A hybrid of (brachycaulos x exserta). Many stiff gracefully curving leaves, dusted with silver, form a 10 to16 inch rosette. A tall deep rose-red scape has long, narrow bracts, adding to the fullness and beauty of this very fine hybrid.

 

A cultivar of Paterson’s cross of (tenuifolia x recurvifolia). A small plant to about 4 inches tall and wide with stiff, gray-green leaves in a loose rosette. The plant much more closely resembles the tenuifolia parent in shape but is more silvery. The inflorescence is a short scape with deep pink bracts and white flowers, close to the recurvifolia parent. Easily forms clusters of plants and is a fast, easy grower. 

If you like Till. aeranthos, you’ll love the variety aemula! Like a giant-growing form of the species, it is a very handsome and hardy plant from Southern Brazil. Somewhat more caulescent than the typical form, it has purplish-tinted foliage on a stem up to 12 inches long. The inflorescence is well exerted, about 6 inches long, with deep rose-colored bracts and deep blue flowers. Forms large clumps eventually, and can be grown mounted or just hanging on a string.

A lithophytic form of this variable and widespread species. Growing on exposed cliff faces near Totolapan, Oaxaca, Mexico, they form dense clusters of plant. The leaves are stiff and coated with a heavy layer of silvery trichomes. Unlike some similar species, the leaves are straight, not secund. The inflorescence is tall, a straight simple spike of red bearing tubular yellow flowers. Grows best mounted or hung from a string in bright, breezy condition so they will dry quickly after watering. An easy and prolific plant to grow.

This hybrid of (leonamiana x ixioides) is pretty much what you’d expect of this cross. An open rosette of narrow, arching, stiff leaves of silvery gray and an inflorescence that is tall and slender with a few short branches at the top, silver dusted orange bracts and yellow flowers. Easy, prolific and showy.

 

A clone of (aeranthos x leonamiana). A robust beauty to 6 inches tall with stiff, purplish-green, silver lepidote, upright, recurving leaves. Lavender flowers and bicolor pink bracts are borne on a 4 inch scape. Very easy to grow. 

This species has a very bulbous base and twisty leaves tapering to a thread-fine tip. The plants are a sort of an olive-drab to brown color, with hundreds of tiny red specks. In bloom, it produces a spike with short branches of a pink to lavender color. Mature plants can vary in size from four to twelve inches. Native from Mexico to Panama, in forested locations from sea level to 6,000 feet. Grow on the shady and moist side. In nature you never see this plant as a single specimen. Naturally growing in clusters, sometimes numbering hundreds of plants, this simple little Tillandsia becomes a spectacular specimen.