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

One of the most desirable and sought Tillandsia species ever. This is the rare clone with the deep-red inflorescence, from the hinterlands of the Darien in Panama. A rather small plant, growing to about six inches across in a somewhat bulbous, greenish-gray open rosette. The inflorescence is a short inflated, disproportionately large, arrowhead-shaped scape of deep red. We collected our original stock of these beauties some years ago on one of our most adventurous trips ever, and have established a nice sized colony. Easily forms clumps.

Grow bright, out of direct sun, keep warm and feed often.

*VIPP plants are not in bud

Many years ago I acquired my first specimen of this fine Tillandsia from Fred Fuchs, famed orchid collector and explorer, and never dreamed that I would ever see it growing wild. Years later our explorations took us to the arid scrub forests of western Ecuador and northern Peru where this plant was abundant, often in the crowns of towering Bombax trees.

A beautiful species with rather thin, very dark gray, stiff, almost brittle leaves in a symmetrical open rosette that can reach 18 inches across.

The inflorescence, a tall spike with a cluster of short branches, develops slowly, becoming vivid lacquer red and lasting in color for months.

This is the proliferating form of secunda from the area north of Quito, Ecuador. A large growing plant with silvery-green leaves in an upright rosette, which when in bloom produces its offsets on its inflorescence. The inflorescence is tall and branched, up to 3 feet or so, and usually bright red in color, and the adventitious offsets are produced at almost every internode. In nature it grows on the ground on rocky slopes in full sun. Popular with collectors, it is usually grown potted to gain size and vigor.

*VIPP plants are NOT in bloom

A unique species from Cuba where it lives on exposed limestone cliffs near Santiago de Cuba at about 1,000 feet of altitude. Related to capitata, it forms a somewhat bulbous base with stiff, glabrous leaves in a flaring, upright rosette with the leaves recurving sharply in a coil when grown bright or hard. The color varies with light and stage of growth but is green with a slight gray bloom when young and becomes yellowish with maturity, blushing pink in strong light.

At anthesis the inflorescence produces long scape bracts of yellow, ending in pink. The branches are mostly green and the tubular flowers purple-blue. Easy to grow mounted but slow growing and very cold tender.

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.