Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia fasciculata |
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black-moss, long-moss, mousse, mousse espagnole, Spanish-moss |
cardinal airplant, giant airplant |
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Habit | Plants pendent in long festoons, flowering to 300 cm. | Plants clustering, flowering to 65 cm. | ||||||||
Stems | elongate. |
short. |
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Leaves | 4–8, 2-ranked, often twisted or contorted, gray to silver-gray, 1.5–3 × 0.1–0.2 cm, densely grayish-scaly; sheath pale, narrowly elliptic, not inflated, not forming pseudobulb, 0.2–0.4 cm wide; blade filiform, succulent, margins involute to nearly tubular, apex acute. |
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 concealed within leaf sheath, appearing scapeless, pendent with shoot, ± 1 mm diam. |
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 | 1, inconspicuous, apparently sessile; sepals free, ovate, not keeled, 0.6–0.7 cm, thin, veined, apex acute, surfaces glabrous; corolla spreading, petals spreading, yellow-green, elliptic, to 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 2.5 cm. |
to 4 cm. |
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Floral | bracts enveloping flower, erect, green, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), ovate, not keeled, 0.4–0.5 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 usneoides |
Tillandsia fasciculata |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||||||
Habitat | Epiphytic, occasionally on fences, telephone lines | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; 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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Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Renealmia usneoides, Dendropogon usneoides | |||||||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 411. (1762) | Swartz: Prodr. 56. (1788) | ||||||||
Web links |