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

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.

A fine example of the variable divaricata group of latifolias. Common to southern Ecuador, it is found mostly in colonies on the ground in treeless desert areas. The plants form dense mats of hard, reflective silvery leaves, their tall shiny orange spikes glistening in the full sun. In cultivation, where conditions are relatively much less stressful, they grow somewhat larger than in their native habitats, reaching about 18 inches tall. Very slow growing.

A fairly new species from Sierra de Niltepec, Zanatepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. A smallish grower 6 to 8 inches tall is a lithophyte or cliff dwelling species in nature. The leaves are stiff in an upright to slightly spreading rosette, silvery-gray and tapering to a point. The inflorescence is short to about 1.5 times the length of the leaves, well branched and light green with white flowers. Rare in collections.

This plant has not yet been published but has been in cultivation for a while under the name of Tillandsia cocoensis.

In correspondence with Eric Gouda he says that this plant is most likely a form of T. tenuifolia and will likely be published as T. tenuifolia var. cocoensis by Renate Ehlers, hopefully in the near future. It was discovered growing on the cliffs of Morro do Coco in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil where it forms mats of plants with procumbent stems and stiff, silvery leaves. The flowers are slightly violet-white, borne on a short red scape with bright red bracts.

A cute and easy to grow species that blooms faithfully. Our plants came originally from the collection of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens with the accession number of SEL91-0099A.