PlantFiles: Quill-leaf, Cardinal Air Plant, Wild Pineapple, Clustered Wild Pine
Tillandsia fasciculata

In my area (N. Orlando) this plant seems to thrive in some areas and be non-existent in others. One area this plant is everywhere, falling with tree limbs and all. I brought some home and unless "glued" down, the squirrels will rip it apart for nesting material.

I have many happily growing and blooming attached to the persistent leaf bases of phoenix dactylifera hybrid, phoenix sylvestris and livistona decipiens (palms) mixed with tree ferns where moisture collects. They get no special care. I collect after they fall to ground from natural hammocks where they prefer to live in oak trees.

Tillandsia fasciculata (the var. densispica) is pretty common in most cypress swamps from near Orlando southward through Florida. Its endangered status is more due to the potential that the populations could be decimated by the weevils than to inherent rarity or even the likelihood of removal by collectors. There is a lot of it in Polk and Highlands counties.

The Cardinal Airplant, or Quill-leaf Wildpine, is native to the cypress swamps, sloughs, and hammocks of central and southern Florida in zones 9, 10a, 10b, 11 and below, including throughout the Keys. I have this plant from a neighbor growing in a hanging pot leaning against one of the branches it is hanging on in the Strawberry Guava (tree) in my front yard. It grows well and tolerates little water. It has a beautiful red-and-yellow-striped, pointed flower shoot. This plant is an epythitic that grows into and on the trunks and limbs of trees in the wild, especially Live Oaks and the Bald and Pond Cypresses. Sadly, this plant is declining due to the Mexican Bromeliad Weevil attack, as well as habitat destruction and some collecting, and is now listed as endangered. However, there are still healthy populations of the airplant growing in the wild in the Big Cypress Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand, the Everglades, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Loxahatchee Slough and much of the swampy south- and southwestern parts of the state. I visit the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge frequently and it is still growing in abundance on the cypress, wax myrtle and pond apple trees. Great plant for growing on tree branches and planting in pots.

MORE FACTS - Found in hammocks, cypress swamps, tree islands, swamps and sloughs from north-central (zone 9a) Florida southward throughout the rest of the state and the Keys.

Endangered in Florida

Normally this plant is glued to a piece of wood and no soil is needed. All nutrients is taken from the air. You can find liquid nutrients to mix with water and spray it on the plant. Need a lot of humidity as it is a tropical plant.

There are quite a few species of air plants. All are epiphytes. Nutrients are taken from falling organic debris and rainfall caught in the leaves. Many air plants are on the Florida State Protected Plant List as endangered or threatened.