Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia paucifolia |
|
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black-moss, long-moss, mousse, mousse espagnole, Spanish-moss |
potbelly airplant |
|
Habit | Plants pendent in long festoons, flowering to 300 cm. | Plants single or clustering, flowering to 15 cm. |
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. |
5–10, many-ranked, recurved to twisted, silvery gray, to 12 × 0.3–0.6 cm, grayish-scaly; sheath nearly chestnut brown within, ovate, conspicuously inflated, forming small pseudobulb, 1.5–3.5 cm wide; blade narrowly triangular, semisucculent, margins involute, apex obtuse to nearly acute. |
Inflorescences | scape concealed within leaf sheath, appearing scapeless, pendent with shoot, ± 1 mm diam. |
scape short and conspicous, erect or ascending, 1–6 cm, 2–3 mm diam.; bracts densely imbricate, erect to spreading, like leaves but gradually smaller; sheath of bracts narrowing gradually into blade; single spikes, or with 2–4 lateral spikes, usually ascending, pinnate, linear to narrowly elliptic, compressed, 2–7 × 0.6–1 cm, apex acute to obtuse. |
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. |
2–15, conspicuous; sepals with adaxial pair short connate, lanceolate, keeled, to 2 cm, thin-leathery to papery, veined, apex acute, surfaces sparsely scaly; corolla tubular; petals erect, lavender-blue, ligulate, to 4 cm; stamens exserted; stigma exserted, conduplicate-spiral. |
Fruits | to 2.5 cm. |
to 4 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 imbricate, erect, pale pink, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), elliptic, not keeled, 2–3 cm, thin-leathery, base visible at anthesis, apex broadly acute to obtuse, surfaces densely grayish-scaly. |
Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia paucifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering spring–summer. |
Habitat | Epiphytic, occasionally on fences, telephone lines | Epiphytic in bright exposed habitats |
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; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies |
Discussion | The leaf blade of Tillandsia paucifolia is often shorter than the leaf sheath. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Renealmia usneoides, Dendropogon usneoides | |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 411. (1762) | Baker: Gard. Chron. ser. 2, 10:748. (1878) |
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