PlantFiles: Air Plant
Tillandsia stricta

Bought three of these at the Vero Beach Gardners show on 2/5/05. They are lovely. Have them sitting on my Christmas Catsus. All three are blooming and the pink and white brackets are lovely.

This is the most common natural bromeliad in Rio de Janeiro, and maybe the most abundant brazilian species of Bromeliaceae. Even in large and high urbanized cities like Rio you can find many of those growing on trees confortably and, like now, blooming.

This is a small plant, with a rosette of curved, fibrous, grey leaves. Unlike other bromeliads (and like most Air Plants), the middle of this rosette is unable to acumulate water. Instead, the leaves are covered with umbrela-shaped hairs that collect water and nutrients from the air (which leaves the roots useless on that matter, only used for holding a support for the plant). These hairs are what give the leaves the grey looking color.

The blooms come in the middle of the plant, with a 20 cm long, often pendulous stalk, bearing several bright pink (the most common), light pink or white bracts, rarelly mixing pink and white. Each bract hides a small, tube shaped, purple flower apreciated by birds. These show up in late spring and can go through summer till autumn. The seeds pods are formed afterwards, with many feathered seeds. These feathers (hairs, actually) helps the seeds to attach themselves on a propper surface, like the bark of a tree.

In Brazil, this plant produces lots of seeds successfully, even on big towns. And, as it tolerates more polution than other epiphytic plants, and without competitors, they sometimes become invasive. I don´t know how they would behave in other places.

This plant needs no soil, only a solid and preferably organic medium where the roots can grow and keep the plant hanging. The watering must be regular, and only leaves need to be watered. No fertilizers are needed. It likes high temperatures, but can go well in subtropical places. It can grow both under full sun and light shade. Whatever place you choose, it must have good air circulation, because that´s how it gets nutrients, from the air. It can be propagated by dividing the short rhyzome (which can destroy the whole plant, becase this rhyzome is really short), or germinating the seeds in vitro.

Even though it´s a quite vulgar plant over here, it´s impossible to walk under a tree and not notice those gorgeous pink inflorescences hanging from the bromeliads on its branches.