Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia variabilis |
|
---|---|---|
black-moss, long-moss, mousse, mousse espagnole, Spanish-moss |
leatherleaf airplant, tillandsia cambiante |
|
Habit | Plants pendent in long festoons, flowering to 300 cm. | Plants usually single, rarely clustering, flowering to 40 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. |
15–20, many-ranked, spreading, gray-green or flushed rose, 12–30 × 1–2 cm, finely appressed-scaly; sheath pale to nearly chestnut brown, ovate, flat, not forming pseudobulb, 2–4 cm wide; blade narrowly triangular, tapering evenly from base to apex, nearly plane to channeled, soft, brittle, margins involute, apex attentuate. |
Inflorescences | scape concealed within leaf sheath, appearing scapeless, pendent with shoot, ± 1 mm diam. |
scape conspicuous, erect or ascending, 3–10 cm, 2–5 mm diam.; bracts densely imbricate, erect, blade often hanging, like leaves but gradually smaller; sheath of bracts narrowing abruptly into blade; spikes erect or ascending, never palmate, linear, compressed, 5–20 × 0.8–1.2 cm, apex acute; simple or laxly 2–3 lateral branches. |
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. |
5–30, conspicuous; sepals with adaxial pair connate, oblong, keeled, 1.5–1.8 cm, thin-leathery, slightly veined, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous; corolla tubular, petals erect, lavender-blue, ligulate, to 3 cm; stamens exserted; stigma exserted, conduplicate-spiral. |
Fruits | to 2.5 cm. |
to 3 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 laxly imbricate, erect, green, red, or purple, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), elliptic, keeled toward apex, 1.8–2 × 0.6–0.9 cm, leathery, base visible in fruit, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. |
Tillandsia usneoides |
Tillandsia variabilis |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Epiphytic, occasionally on fences, telephone lines | Epiphytic in moist, shaded 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
|
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia | Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Renealmia usneoides, Dendropogon usneoides | T. houzeavii, T. valenzuelana |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 411. (1762) | Schlechtendal: Linnaea 18:418. (1844) |
Web links |