A hybrid of (capitata x streptophylla). An extraordinary beauty that takes on a bulbous shape with wide, recurving, curling leaves coated with silvery scurf.

The inflorescence is fairly short with long, curling scape bracts and a tightly clustered head of red branches and light blue flowers. The whole plant takes on a reddish-peach blush at anthesis. A choice plant. 

This stunning large cross of Dyckia platyphylla x ‘Carlsbad‘ has many spiny arching leaves in a rosette to well over 18 inches. One of the most colorful of Dyckia hybrids, it has reddish/brown leaves in full sun or a deep burgundy color in lower light.

This plant has a bit of a history before becoming Tillandsia ‘Kashkin’. Having been collected in Bolivia some years ago by Michael Kashkin, it entered cultivation as simply Species Bolivia. Over the years as it passed from grower to grower, it went by ‘Caulescent jucunda’, ‘Fragrant Flower Bolivia’, and ‘Inca Gold’. Eventually Derek Butcher of Australia did the footwork to determine that the plant is likely a natural hybrid. Of what exactly is not known.

It is a slightly caulescent plant with stiff, narrow, silvery leaves, and a slightly branched inflorescence bearing large, yellow, very fragrant flowers. Easy to grow, it forms nice clusters and likes bright conditions and good air circulation.

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*

This plant was imported in the early 1980s from Guatemala and came in mixed with Tillandsia caput-medusae. When this plant flowered it was obvious to us that it was a hybrid and we consulted with Harry Luther who agreed that it was likely a caput-medusae x brachycaulos natural hybrid. Until 2013 we had been growing this plant under that name.

I recently submitted a photo of it to Derek Butcher and Geoffrey Lawn of the Hybrid Registry and Derek wrote me back saying “You have the original T. brachycaulos var multiflora see attached. However the botanists decided it was a natural hybrid which I maintain should be in alpha order because you do not know mother thus brachycaulos x caput-medusae. So we are in a quandary.

Under ICBN rules your plant has a ‘name’. I am suggesting we stretch the rules and under the ICNCP rules call your plant ‘Zacapa‘ linking it to the Lyman Smith variety and thus the Field herb specimen.” And so we are. This plant has grown much larger under cultivated conditions and maintains a nice coloration. A choice plant.

A cultivar of Goudaea ospinae v. gruberi, a beautiful Colombian species, with (in our opinion) an unfortunate name choice. A beauty with light green colored leaves that have reduced burgundy colored markings that resemble wet ink that has been smeared. Grows and offsets the same as other ospinae v. gruberi cultivars and has the same inflorescence.

A probable cross of (duratii x stricta). A rosette-shaped plant with narrow, stiff, silvery-gray, succulent leaves spanning 16 inches. The inflorescence is an arching, branched panicle, purple in color with open, purplish flowers that have a fragrance similar to the duratii parent, but not as strong.

A Jim Irvin hybrid named for a longtime active bromeliad enthusiast of the Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society of Fort Myers, Florida, a cultivar of ‘Icecile’ x ‘Black Mystic,’ has 14+ lanceolate leaves forming a medium-large plant 20″ in diameter with a strong oval form, deep forest green in color with banding the entire length and edge to edge with narrow silver bands set widely apart.  The undersides have heavy silver scurf.

A cultivar of (ionantha v. vanhyningii x ionantha ‘Druid’) by Bill Timm. A plant that can resemble the ionantha v. vanhyningii parent with thick leaves on a caulescent stem or can be more upright. The leaves blush reddish with blue flowers at anthesis. A nice hybrid that forms clusters of plants. 

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 hybrid of (bulbosa x streptophylla) by Mark Dimmitt. This interesting plant could be described as a larger bulbosa-type plant with broader, more twisted leaves. Or, as a streptophylla-type plant with shiny and deeply channeled leaves. In other words, a good split of characteristics of both parents.

This hybrid is sometimes found as a natural cross in Guatemala. Grows well mounted, easily forming large clusters of plants.