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.

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.

An interesting sport of the species, this produces a white inflorescence rather than the usual pink. Only a few available.

A large growing select clone of this species from Andy Siekkinen.  A large grower to 40 inches overall, with an upright habit. Tall, graceful leaves and a tall red-orange scape with long, narrow yellow branches. Quite the impressive specimen from Hidalgo, Mexico.

Rarely offered

A giant ionantha, the size and shape of the popular and well known personal explosive device. These giants are from Honduras and are true rarities. These plants are like ‘ordinary’ ionanthas except for the fact that they grow very large with many more leaves than typical plants. They often go for several years before blooming, which may be the reason they get so large. These plants occur amongst normal plants on the rarest of occasions.

We have had this plant for quite a few years, having acquired it as T. ionantha ‘Snake’. It appears to be a hybrid with ionantha as one parent, but the other is unknown. Sometimes growing conditions will cause ionantha varieties to grow excessively long, but this one grows and grows under normal greenhouse conditions here in Florida. Aside from the long stem, which can reach well over 24 inches, it has narrow, fleshy leaves, hundreds of them, along the stem. The foliage is silvery gray and the inflorescence is a short scape of tight pink branches that barely exerts itself above the foliage. Offsets form along the stem at irregular intervals. An oddity worth growing. 

An interesting novelty that occurred in the collection of Bert Foster about 25 years ago and has persisted ever since. An otherwise normal ionantha but with even breaks in the trichomes, forming a banded pattern. Very decorative miniature measuring approximately 2 inches tall.

*MINIATURE TILLANDSIA*

A cross of two plants of the southern cone of South America. Tillandsia ixioides which has few, very stiff leaves and no appreciable stem and bergeri which has a long stem and many short, stiff leaves. The result is a plant with many stiff leaves that recurve downwards in a rosette to about 4 inches in diameter. The inflorescence favors bergeri, with pale blue, twisted petals but can be variable in color (see photos).

A small plant with grayish silver leaves in an upright rosette. It is clustering and has a short scape with bright pink bracts and yellowish flowers.