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 robust form of Tillandsia funckiana that we got from a collector in Colombia.  We are not sure of the exact origin although most of the similar clones come from the Andes of Venezuela near the Colombia border.  The stems grow to 10 inches or so and have needle thing leaves to just over an inch long.  The leaves curve upward but this form is quite different from v. recurvifolia.  The overall color is green with a coating of silver trichomes and a red blush in strong light and at anthesis.  This form is like all others; a cliff dweller that forms cascading clusters.

A nice form of the somewhat variable Tillandsia funckiana, this clone from near Lagunillas, Merida, Venezuela.  A plant that came to us from the collection of the Marie Selby Botanical gardens with their accession number of SEL 1975-0090.  A silvery plant with nicely upright stems and very slender, silvery leaves that recurve slightly upward.  Not much of a blush at anthesis, but the leaves can tint slightly pink in good light.

Native to seaside cliffs and other rocky habitats along the coast of Brazil. In this type of exposed habitat this form has developed thicker, coarser foliage than the typical, soft leaved form from forested areas. This is, in our opinion, the finest form and a large grower, to nearly a foot tall when in bloom. Beautiful silvery foliage and a branched, purple inflorescence. A slow growing but very choice plant. There is also a form with a pink inflorescence.

Formerly Tillandsia pucarensis this species from Peru is a fairly large plant with semi-soft gray foliage and an erect simple or barely branched pink inflorescence. The narrow leaves form a leafy, upright rosette. This clone came to us from Germany with the accession code of BOE0A456.

A rare and handsome lithophytic species from Guerrero, Mexico with succulent, silvery leaves that are fairly narrow, forming a somewhat bulbous based rosette to about 8 inches across or so. A clumping species that forms large colonies of many plants.

Quite beautiful in bloom, it has a spike with several branches that is bright pink and longer than the leaves. Flowers are deep purple-blue. We originally obtained this plant from Prof. Dr. Werner Rauh who was the author of this species.

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 bizarre Tillandsia from Mexico, certainly the most unusual of the proliferating Tillandsias. The plants are long and thin, with stiff gray leaves ending in a tight curl. It is in nearly a constant state of bloom, producing an offset from the tip of the spike and additional ones from the base of the mother plant. Eventually, will form huge clusters of intertwined plants that hang down in a cascade. A true oddity and easy to grow.