Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia flexuosa |
|
---|---|---|
black-moss, long-moss, mousse, mousse espagnole, Spanish-moss |
twisted airplant |
|
Habit | Plants pendent in long festoons, flowering to 300 cm. | Plants single or in small clusters, flowering to 1 m. |
Stems | elongate. |
short. |
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. |
10–20, many-ranked, spreading to recurved, spirally twisted, gray or reddish, banded silver, to 40 × 1–2.5 cm, appressed-grayish-scaly; sheath dark chestnut brown, broadly elliptic to ovate, not inflated, not forming pseudobulb, 2–3 cm wide; blade narrowly triangular, leathery, channeled to involute, apex attenuate. |
Inflorescences | scape concealed within leaf sheath, appearing scapeless, pendent with shoot, ± 1 mm diam. |
scape conspicuous, erect, 15–40 cm, 3–5 mm diam.; bracts laxly imbricate, erect to spreading, distal widely spaced, like leaves but gradually smaller; sheath of bracts narrowing abruptly into blade; spikes very laxly 2–6-flowered, erect to spreading, simple or 2-pinnate, linear in outline, 12–40 × 3–4.5 cm, apex acute; lateral branches 2–8. |
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. |
5–40, conspicuous; sepals free, elliptic, not keeled, 2–3 cm, leathery to thin-leathery, veined, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous; corolla tubular, petals erect, apex spreading, pink to dark rose, ligulate, to 4 cm; stamens exserted; stigma exserted, conduplicate-spiral. |
Fruits | to 2.5 cm. |
to 7.5 cm. |
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 widely spaced, spreading with flowers, gray or reddish, exposing most of rachis at anthesis, elliptic, not keeled, 2.3–3.1 cm, thin-leathery, base not visible at anthesis, apex acute, surfaces glabrous to slightly scaly. |
Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia flexuosa |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Epiphytic, occasionally on fences, telephone lines | Epiphytic in exposed habitats often near the coast |
Elevation | 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) | 0–30 m (0–100 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
|
FL; Central America; South America; West Indies |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Renealmia usneoides, Dendropogon usneoides | T. aloifolia |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 411. (1762) | Swartz: Prodr. 56. (1788) |
Web links |