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Leatherleaf airplant

Tillandsia variabilis

Leatherleaf airplant
Photo: New York Botanical Garden., Public domain
Family
Bromeliaceae (Pineapple family)
Grows as
Tree, Epiphyte
Native range
Florida to Trop. America
Climate
wet tropical

About

Tillandsia variabilis, the leatherleaf airplant, is a species of bromeliad in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico (Veracruz, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Chiapas, Yucatán, Puebla), Venezuela, Colombia, the West Indies and southern Florida.

Tillandsia variabilis is an epiphyte growing in the branches of various trees in moist forests. It is up to 40 cm long including the inflorescence, usually single but occasionally in clumps. Leaves are narrowly triangular, soft and brittle, up to 30 cm long. Inflorescence is usually simple, sometimes with 2–3 branches but never palmately branched. Bracts are red, green or purple, less than 1 cm wide, covering and obscuring the rachis. Flowers are lavender to blue, up to 3 cm long.

Other Tillandsia plants

Tillandsia abbreviata · Tillandsia achyrostachys · Tillandsia acuminata · Tillandsia adamsii · Tillandsia adpressiflora · Tillandsia aequatorialis · Tillandsia aeranthos · Tillandsia afonsoana · Tillandsia aguascalientensis · Tillandsia aizoides · Tillandsia albertiana · Tillandsia albida

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tillandsia variabilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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