A beautiful caulescent plant with short, broadly triangular, silvery-gray leaves and a stunning red-flowered inflorescence. A native of Bolivia where it lives a lithophytic existence on sheer rock cliffs, hanging in massive cascades. Care-free to grow, when mounted in a pendant fashion it freely produces offsets along its old stem, soon forming large attractive clusters.

Our stock came from a collection we made in 1993 in Bolivia. The excitement still lingers when I think of my fist encounter with the species in the wild. We had been traveling the rugged canyons that lay between ridge after ridge of the Cordillera de los Andes on Bolivia’s rugged and desolate eastern frontier.

On our satellite maps the terrain appeared to have been clawed by a giant jaguar, leaving parallel grooves hundreds of miles long etched deeply into the altiplano. We were weary from several weeks travel having seldom enjoyed a bed or hot meal. It remains a mystery why in such a relatively rich habitat for Tillandsias such as this, that one can travel for many miles and endless hours and not see a single plant! But on this dusty day our luck changed.

In a deep gorge where the escarpment walls seemed to rise and close in, causing dark shadows across the valley floor, we came into an incredible sight. Our first hint was an isolated cliff, across a muddy stream, that had a small colony of a caulescent Tillandsia. Crossing the stream, a break in the monotony of the day, I carried collecting pole and camera towards the cliff. Distance deceives among the stone monoliths of these haunting canyons and as the ‘bushes’ at the cliff base became large trees at my approach, so also did the Tillandsias disappear into the forest canopy.

Reaching the base of the cliff, I couldn’t even see the plants that lured me in the first place, as they were easily over a hundred feet overhead obscured by the canopy of the forest. However, with adrenaline coursing as it does when victory or discovery is in the wind, we drove onward to our reward. Not over a mile further on, the cliffs, which towered hundreds of feet tall, were covered with Tillandsias as far as the eye could see. Approaching this time we discovered that our long awaited prize was Tillandsia edithae!

Buy one now and save the bone-jarring, dust-eating, dangerous trip to Bolivia’s eastern desert.

This is a beauty and one of our favorite Tillandsias! We collected our original plants many years ago in Southern Ecuador and have propagated them since. An excellent species with many arching silvery-gray leaves in a 20 inch or larger rosette, with a beautiful branched rose-red inflorescence lasting for months.

Native to semi arid valleys and can often be found in trees near water courses. Somewhat of a slow grower but a spectacular plant at maturity. This species thrives with bright light and moderate watering and feeding.

The Florida native form of this widespread species which has a range that runs from Florida and the Bahamas to Northern South America. An upright, tubular, vase-shaped plant with broadly tapering, spiraled leaves. The color is brownish-green with a coating of silver trichomes that normally forms in bands. The inflorescence is tall, thin and usually branched, normally green in Florida, but can be reddish sometimes. The flowers are arranged at right angles and are rosy/pink. Often a twig epiphyte in nature, it is easy to grow mounted. Keep warm, (above 40's) as this is an especially tropical species that in Florida is restricted to the southern Everglades and coastal regions of South Florida.

One of the more unusual of all Tillandsias because of its habit of producing offsets all along its three foot long inflorescence, as well as in the more usual manner. A handsome plant with rather stiff leaves arranged in a more open rosette. This form of flexuosa is apparently native only to Venezuela, with two major colonies of slightly different plants. One colony occurs on the north coast where it often grows in large numbers in shrubs, trees and cacti on the seaside cliffs. Large clusters of these plants weigh down the limbs of the local scrub-type vegetation, often breaking loose and falling into the sea.

The other colony is in the Andes, near Merida, where it grows mainly in large clusters on the ground and in some low shrubbery. This form has thicker leaves and is larger and more open in shape. An easy to grow species that thrives mounted in a warm environment. 

We acquired this clone from Selby Gardens without an accession number. This clone was most likely collected by Mark Dimmit and makes silvery-green clumps.

A very orange-blushing clone of Tillandsia funckiana from the collection of Herb Hill.  We don’t know much else about it but as with all T. funckiana, it’s a species from Venezuela that grows on bare rock on exposed cliffs.  The blooms are brilliant crimson and appear in winter.  It, like all other T. funckiana, forms large clusters over time.  A superb clone.

A robust form of Tillandsia funckiana that we got from a collector in Colombia.  We are not sure of the exact origin although most of the similar clones come from the Andes of Venezuela near the Colombia border.  The stems grow to 10 inches or so and have needle thing leaves to just over an inch long.  The leaves curve upward but this form is quite different from v. recurvifolia.  The overall color is green with a coating of silver trichomes and a red blush in strong light and at anthesis.  This form is like all others; a cliff dweller that forms cascading clusters.

A rare and handsome lithophytic species from Guerrero, Mexico with succulent, silvery leaves that are fairly narrow, forming a somewhat bulbous based rosette to about 8 inches across or so. A clumping species that forms large colonies of many plants.

Quite beautiful in bloom, it has a spike with several branches that is bright pink and longer than the leaves. Flowers are deep purple-blue. We originally obtained this plant from Prof. Dr. Werner Rauh who was the author of this species.

THIS PLANT IS ON C.I.T.E.S. AND CANNOT BE EXPORTED

A Guatemalan species to about 8 x 10 inches with lovely thick silvery leaves, a bright red, cylindrical, simple spike and purple flowers. Nice for mounting. Considered an endangered species, is rather rare in nature, but very commonly cultivated. Especially easy to grow, a confidence builder for beginners.

A saxicolous species from Peru’s desert valleys. Like a small, caulescent, silver tectorum, with inch long leaves. Grow dry and bright.

Formerly Vriesea hitchcockiana, now classified as Tillandsia,  hitchcockiana has narrow, stiff leaves in a graceful rosette.  The inflorescence is pink, branched and very tall, with lavender flowers.  Native from Ecuador to Peru, it is a saxicole or epiphyte in nature.  It bears certain similarity to Vr. cereicola but lacks the stoloniferous habit of that species.

Tillandsia hitchcockiana and Vriesea cereicola are two species of gray leaved Vrieseas that are superficially similar. Both have stiff leaves and grow in a more or less tight, upright rosette. Their inflorescences, an overall pink, can be simple or branched. Some basic differences are this; hitchcockiana is a dark brownish gray and does not have stolons, cereicola is silver and is quite stoloniferous. Both are epiphytic or saxicolous, cereicola is fond of growing on cacti, hence the name.