Tillandsia

Identifying Corkscrew's Common Tillandsia

First identify the shape of the Tillandsia as one of the three below. In that section, start through all of the questions numbered 1 until you get a "yes" answer, and click on the YES. Continue with any succeeding numbers until you can click on a YES, and you have identified the Tillandsia.

Leaves are very thin, string-like, with a grayish velvety look

Plants have an urn-like base

Plants do NOT have an urn-like base

1. Do they hang in long, twining festoons? YES, or

1. Do they form a tangled mass like a fuzzy ball of string? YES

1. Do the leaves appear powdery, fuzzy looking and grayish to silvery? YES, or

1. Are the leaves smooth and greenish to reddish in color? YES

1. Are the leaves very thin, resembling pine needles? YES, or

1. Are the leaves wider at the base and taper to a point? YES

Plants have an urn-like base and the leaves appear smooth and are greenish to reddish in color

2. Are the leaves wide, twisted/contorted, and appear to have light bands? YES, or

2. Do the leaves taper and curve down over the bulb in curly tendrils? YES

Plants do NOT have an urn-like base; the leaves are wider at the base and taper to a point

2. Are the leaves stiff, erect, widely spreading, and grayish-green? YES, or

2. Do the leaves curve evenly along their entire length? YES

Plants do NOT have an urn-like base; the leaves are wider at the base and taper to a point; leaves curve evenly along their entire length

3. Are the leaves pale green, thick, big, and curve in a wide arc? YES, or

3. Are the leaves green, short, and curve limply along the whole length? YES

Tillandsia usneoides

Spanish Moss

Growth: droops from its support in long, gray festoons.

Leaves: numerous short leaves, round in cross section, and one to two and half inches in length, are on the stem at intervals (photo near right). The slender stem is greatly elongated, twining, and covered with silvry scales.

Flowers: tiny, inconspicuous flowers are fragrant and occur singly on a very short stalk in the axils of leaves on younger portions of the plant; petals are yellowish-green with curved tips; two long bracts of unequal length extend well behond the flower; flowers April-June and sparingly throughout the summer.

Notes: other commong names include long-moss, Floridamoss, wood-crape, and crape-moss; commonly used as a mulch around plants; swallow-tailed kites use it extensively in their nests

Tillandsia recurvata

Ball Moss

Growth: prefers exterior of tree canopies, but accepts any support in the sunshine, even wire fences and telephone wires

Leaves: slender, quill-like, recurved and twisted; about three-fourths to one and one-half inches long; covered with silver-green scales much like T. usneoides; stems curl about their supports, entanging several plants together, to give the characteristic ball-like appearance

Flowers: one to four flowers are on the end of a slender, stiff, wire-like stalk two to six inches long which has bracts only at the base and tip; petals are violet; flowers August-September

Notes: other common name is Bunch Moss; young plants suggest young T. usneoides (Spanish Moss), especially near the tops of trees; a lichen called Old Man's Beard grows lower, is greenish, and is frequently misidentified as Ball Moss;

Tillandsia pruinosa

Hoary Air Plant

Growth: prefers edges of cypress forests, medium to high on pond cypress; northern limit of its range is in the Big Cypress Swamp, so it is found sparingly in Collier County

Leaves: this is a really small plant, to a maximum of five inches; leaves are swollen at the base to form a bulbous-looking portion; entire plant covered with dense silver-scurfy pointed scales, giving it a silvery sheen; it appears fuzzy or powdery, but the exterior is hard and smooth

Flowers: the flower spike is contracted into an oval, flattened mass of pinkish bracts (photo far right) when flowering and bears two to five flowers with purple petals

Notes: other common name is Fuzzy-Wuzzy Air Plant

Tillandsia flexuosa

Twisted Air Plant

Growth: usually in the tops of trees in fairly sunny situations, but sometimes found lower

Leaves: thick, silver-gray, up to sixteen inches in length, and strongly recurved and twisted -- looks as though someone grabbed the bottom and tried to unscrew it from the top; there are random white corssbands and a pronounced bulbous base

Flowers: flower stalk is a slender, usually erect, sixteen to thirty-two inches long; bracts do not overlap; flowers set out an an angle to the zig-zag stalk; petals are pink; flowers August-September; inflorescence (flower stalk) produced only once in each plant after which the "mother" plants can exist for years bearing offshoots or "pups," which either break away to form another life cycle or remain attached until the original plant finally withers away

Notes: other common name is Banded Wild Pine

Tillandsia balbisiana

Reflexed Wild Pine

Growth: plant abundant and occurs in all situations, equally well-adjusted to deep shade where leaves grow long or to bright sunlight where they are contorted and highly colored from gray-green to blue-bronze or red;

Leaves: gray-green to reddish, finely scurfy, long and twisted, sometimes reaching twenty inches in length leaves uniformly slender

Flowers: flower stalk long, eight to sixteen inches, slender, recurved; bracts range from green to brilliant red; petals on bract are violet (photo far right)

Tillandsia setacea

Needle-leaved Air Plant

Growth: each plant forms a huge, dense clump that may contain up to fifty individuals; clumps can be eight to sixteen inches tall and nearly as wide; can grow on trunks of trees as well as branches

Leaves: needle-like; four to twelve inches long; resemble pine needles (hence the common name); only ten to twenty leaves to a plant; in more shaded areas, leaves green (right photo); in the open with lots of sunlight, leaves look copper-red or bronze (left photo)

Flowers: flower stalk is very slender and about as long as the leaves; one to four flowers grouped at the top; petals are lavender; blooms early August-September

Notes: other common names include Slender-leaved Air Plant and Wild Pine

Tillandsia fasciculata

Stiff-leaved Wild Pine

Growth: a bulky plant that's the most common and most conspicuous species at Corkscrew; in deep shade, leaves may grow to as much as forty inches and be strongly twisted; in open, it is compact and highly colored; when grows on trunks, forms large protuberances that give host tree a knobby appearance; large plants in tree tops are often mistaken for bird or squirrel nests; grows equally well in canopy or near ground

Leaves: long, slender, tapering, bluish-green, reasonably erect; often have brownish bands at base

Flowers: flower stalk usually bright red, although green or yellow at times; appears braided because of the branchlets; from each "braid," bright violet flowers appear; flowers January through mid-summer

Notes: other common name sinclude Quill-leaf Air Plant, Cardinal Air Plant, Cardinal Wild Pine

Tillandsia utriculata

Giant Wild Pine

Growth: the largest air plant, having a spread of up to four feet; always a single plant -- no secondary plants (pups) produced from buds; the plant dies after flowering and seeding; equally adapted to the tops of cypress trees and lower branches, but prefers a moderately sunny to sunny location

Leaves: pale green, very wide at base; gradually tapering to a point; often twenty-four inches or more in length; grow outward from base and arch continually to give a cornucopia-like form

Flowers: stalk is erect, up to seventy inches tall (photo far right); petals are cream colored to ivory white; blooms mid-summer to early fall, a few flowers at a time with the lowest flower opening first and the to flower last; entire bloom period may last up to three weeks

Notes: large plants frequently become to heavy for smaller host branches to support and fall to ground, but continue to grow, flower, and fruit normally as long as not in water

Tillandsia variablis

Soft-leaved Wild Pine

Growth: shade-loving; low-growing and rarely found high on trunks

Leaves: droop eight to twenty inches and spread out in a widely curved arc from the base of the plant; individual leaves relatively narrow, strongly cupped, gradually tapered; have a soft texture; unlike most other Tillandsia, leaves very brittle, snapping off cleanly upon bending

Flowers: flower spike slender, usually curved or drooping; crimson, can be up to twenty-four inches in length; actual flower petals are lavender with a white base in the bract; blooms late July-September

Notes: abundant throughout Everglades, Keys, and cypress swamps; formerly identified as Tillandsia valenzuelana

Leaves are very thin, string-like, with a grayish velvety look	Plants have an urn-like base	Plants do NOT have an urn-like base
1. Do they hang in long, twining festoons? YES, or 1. Do they form a tangled mass like a fuzzy ball of string? YES	1. Do the leaves appear powdery, fuzzy looking and grayish to silvery? YES, or 1. Are the leaves smooth and greenish to reddish in color? YES	1. Are the leaves very thin, resembling pine needles? YES, or 1. Are the leaves wider at the base and taper to a point? YES
	Plants have an urn-like base and the leaves appear smooth and are greenish to reddish in color 2. Are the leaves wide, twisted/contorted, and appear to have light bands? YES, or 2. Do the leaves taper and curve down over the bulb in curly tendrils? YES	Plants do NOT have an urn-like base; the leaves are wider at the base and taper to a point 2. Are the leaves stiff, erect, widely spreading, and grayish-green? YES, or 2. Do the leaves curve evenly along their entire length? YES
		Plants do NOT have an urn-like base; the leaves are wider at the base and taper to a point; leaves curve evenly along their entire length 3. Are the leaves pale green, thick, big, and curve in a wide arc? YES, or 3. Are the leaves green, short, and curve limply along the whole length? YES