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black-moss, long-moss, mousse, mousse espagnole, Spanish-moss

airplant

Habit Plants pendent in long festoons, flowering to 300 cm. Plants usually clustering, flowering to 6 dm.
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.

20–50, many-ranked, erect to slightly spreading, gray, 20–50 × 0.5–1 cm, coarsely appressed-scaly;

sheath dark chestnut brown toward base, triangular, flat, not forming pseudobulb, to 2.5 cm wide;

blade narrowly linear-triangular, channeled, leathery, margins involute, apex attenuate.

Inflorescences

scape concealed within leaf sheath, appearing scapeless, pendent with shoot, ± 1 mm diam.

scape conspicuous, erect, 15–30 cm, 3–6 mm diam.;

bracts densely imbricate, erect, like leaves but gradually smaller;

sheath of bracts narrowing gradually into blade;

spikes erect, 2-pinnate, narrowly elliptic, compressed, 2–7 × 1.5 cm, apex acute;

lateral branches 2–10.

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.

10–40, conspicuous;

sepals with adaxial pair connate, lanceolate, keeled, 1.7–2.2 cm, thin-leathery, veined, apex acute, surfaces slightly scaly;

corolla tubular, petals erect, violet, ligulate, to 4.5 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, uniformly red to rose, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), elliptic, keeled apically, 2–2.5 cm, thin, base not visible at anthesis, apex acute, surfaces scaly distally, becoming sparsely scaly toward base.

Tillandsia usneoides

Tillandsia ×floridana

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Epiphytic, occasionally on fences, telephone lines Epiphytic in swamps and river forests
Elevation 0–300 m (0–1000 ft) 0–30 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

This species is often confused with Tillandsia bartramii Elliott and T. simulata Small, which share its distribution and narrow leaves. Its probable parentage is T. bartramii Elliott × T. fasciculata Swartz.

(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
T. baileyi, T. balbisiana, T. bartramii, T. fasciculata, T. flexuosa, T. paucifolia, T. pruinosa, T. recurvata, T. setacea, T. simulata, T. utriculata, T. variabilis, T. ×floridana, T. ×smalliana
T. baileyi, T. balbisiana, T. bartramii, T. fasciculata, T. flexuosa, T. paucifolia, T. pruinosa, T. recurvata, T. setacea, T. simulata, T. usneoides, T. utriculata, T. variabilis, T. ×smalliana
Synonyms Renealmia usneoides, Dendropogon usneoides T. fasciculata var. floridana
Name authority (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl., ed. 2 1: 411. (1762) (L. B. Smith) H. Luther: Phytologia 57:175. (1985)
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