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.

Unusual for the cross, this same cross; Tillandsia edithae x albertiana, has been made several times in the past and is registered under at least two names. Both however have red flowers, as one might expect with a cross of two red-flowered parents. This one has large purple flowers, silvery pink bracts and nice silvery leaves in a leafy, upright rosette. This plant freely produces many offsets.

A lithophytic jewel from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas is a very desirable and unusual species. A medium sized plant that may grow to a foot tall or so, and obtain the girth of a tennis ball, but much larger specimens are sometimes seen in collections. The leaves are terete and mostly erect, often contorted and are covered with a silvery scurf. The inflorescence is an erect, stout, branched pinkish spike. Very easy to cultivate mounted or potted in light media. There is some considerable discussion that this is actually a natural hybrid, but that has no bearing on the fact that it is an outstanding plant.

Tillandsia exserta features a unique and slender shape, with white, arching leaves and a red inflorescence with violet flowers. This species grows in the drier, hotter conditions of Mexico. A unique species of Tillandsia.

A very select clone of this handsome species, originally from Panama. This plant takes on a deep red leaf color in bright light and may be grown in full sun. The inflorescence is a massive set of thickly inflated, deep red branches. We collected the original plants many years ago in Northern Panama as offsets from plants growing in trees in open pasture land. From a hot, humid area, subject to seasonal drought. In other words; easy to grow.

A superior version of the typical T. fasciculata with stiff greenish gray leaves in an upright rosette and a multi-branched spike of red, yellow and orange. Very nice!

This is an unidentified species that is at least similar to fasciculata and with a ‘Pink & Green’ inflorescence. We have had this for many years and in the interim have lost the locality data for it. We believe that this was originally from Mexico, but may be mistaken. Too bad, because this data is important when trying to identify plants. At any rate, this is a nice and colorful, fairly large-growing Tillandsia worthy of space in your collection!