Tillandsia recurvata |
Tillandsia fasciculata |
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ballmoss, small ballmoss, tillandsia recta o heno pequeño |
cardinal airplant, giant airplant |
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| Habit | Plants in dense spheric clusters, flowering to 15 cm diam. | Plants clustering, flowering to 65 cm. | ||||||||
| Stems | short. |
short. |
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| Leaves | 4–10, 2-ranked, recurving, gray, 6–12 × 0.2–0.3 cm, densely pruinose-scaly; sheath pale, elliptic, not inflated, not forming pseudobulb, 4–8 mm wide; blade subulate, terete distally, succulent, margins involute to nearly tubular, apex acute to attenuate. |
20–50, many-ranked, erect to spreading, gray to gray-green, 25–50 × 1–2.5 cm, grayish-scaly; sheath dark rust colored toward base, broadly elliptic, flat, not forming pseudobulb, 3–4 cm wide; blade narrowly triangular, tapering evenly from base to apex, stiff, leathery, channeled to involute, apex attenuate. |
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| Inflorescences | scape conspicuous, erect, 2–5 cm, ± 1 mm diam.; bracts 1–2, widely spaced, erect, inconspicuous, nearly foliaceous; sheath of bracts narrowing gradually into blade; spikes ascending, subpalmate, elliptic, compressed, 8–15 ´ 4–6 mm, apex acute; lateral branches absent. |
scape conspicuous, erect or ascending, 10–35 cm, 4–8 mm diam.; bracts densely imbricate, erect to spreading, like leaves but gradually smaller; sheath of bracts narrowing gradually into blade; spikes erect to spreading, densely palmate to laxly 2(–3)-pinnate, narrowly elliptic, compressed, 5–20 × 1.5–2.5 cm, apex acute; lateral branches 3–15. |
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| Flowers | usually 2, conspicuous; sepals free, lanceolate, not keeled, 6–8 mm, thin, veined, apex acute, surfaces glabrous; corolla tubular; petals spreading toward apex, violet, elliptic, 0.7–1 cm; stamens included; stigma included, simple-erect. |
10–50, conspicuous; sepals with adaxial pair connate, lanceolate, to 1/2 keeled, to 4.2 cm, leathery, slightly veined, apex acute, surfaces glabrous to slightly scaly; corolla tubular, petals erect, violet (white), ligulate, 5–6 cm; stamens exserted; stigma exserted, conduplicate-spiral. |
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| Fruits | to 3 cm. |
to 4 cm. |
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| Floral | bracts laxly imbricate, erect, green, tinged purple, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), narrowly elliptic, not keeled, 0.8–1 cm, thin-leathery, apex acute, surfaces densely grayish-scaly, venation even to slight. |
bracts imbricate, erect, red, red-yellow-green, or green, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), elliptic, keeled, 2–4.8 × 1.2–2 cm, thin-leathery, base not visible at anthesis, apex acute, surfaces glabrous or slightly scaly toward apex, venation even to slight. |
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Tillandsia recurvata |
Tillandsia fasciculata |
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| Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||||||
| Habitat | Epiphytic to occasionally among or on rocks (Arizona, Texas), usually in bright exposed habitats | |||||||||
| Elevation | 0–1500 m [0–4900 ft] | |||||||||
| Distribution |
AZ; FL; GA; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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| Discussion | Varieties 7 (3 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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| Key |
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| Synonyms | Renealmia recurvata, Diaphoranthema recurvata | |||||||||
| Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 410. (1762) | Swartz: Prodr. 56. (1788) | ||||||||
| Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. | ||||||||
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