Tillandsia usneoides  This is the famed ‘Spanish Moss’ of the romantic south. Gracing stately trees from Virginia to Argentina, its is a ubiquitous presence in much of the southern U.S. and especially here in Florida.

The form we sell is our native form, long silvery strands, fluffy and fresh, with fragrant green flowers when it blooms. We grow some in greenhouses, but much of our stock is harvested in the many trees right on Tropiflora property. We clean it of twigs and leaves and only rarely treat it with insecticides for shipment, by request.

Forget about the red bug stories you may have heard about ‘Spanish Moss’, it’s a myth. Great for that special tropical look in your trees, for use with reptiles, as decorative mulch on indoor plants and more. Keep in a breezy, partially shaded place for best results and water well once a week. Feed occasionally if kept indoors.

Note that the photo below is a clump just over 3 feet long and is about a pound (actually just under).

*PLEASE NOTE - We are no longer allowed to ship this item to Japan

A cliff-dwelling species from central Mexico; San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, and Hidalgo. Possibly because of its pupping habit, unlike typical monocarpic utriculata, it is popular with hobbyists and easy to grow. A decorative species, with many leaves in an upright rosette, grayish silver and rather thin. The inflorescence is branched and red to orange or pink, with green and pale green, whitish flowers. Many offsets proliferate at the base of this subspecies and form a dense cluster in time. These little pups can be removed to start new plants at a very small size. Grows best mounted in bright light.

This Peruvian plant has silver leaves with a fragrant plum-colored inflorescence.

A natural hybrid of Tillandsia gardneri x stricta. The native range of this hybrid is southeast Brazil.

A beautiful, silvery plant in a leafy 10 inch rosette with a handsome, silver-dusted pink-orange inflorescence and white flowers. Resembles didisticha a little and is sometimes confused with pucaraensis. Our plants came originally from the collection of Dr. Werner Rauh years ago.

A natural hybrid of (utriculata x fasciculata) known from the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Our plants originated on the island of St. John in the vicinity of Cinnamon Bay where the only two possible parents of this beauty occur side by side.

Taking the best of both parents, it has an inflorescence much larger and more branched than fasciculata, but much more colorful than utriculata. It does offset, though it may wait until the inflorescence is almost finished. Very rarely seen in any collections. We have two clones in our collection, and this one is by far the best.

 

A naturally occurring hybrid of brachycaulos x dasyliriifolia from Mexico, described by Ramirez & Carnivali. In our experience it is not a large plant, but rather upright growing to about 12 to 18 inches with fairly broad silvery-green leaves. The inflorescence is cylindrical to occasionally branched, with pinkish bracts and white flowers.

(SEL2000-0185)