facebook

follow on twitter

NEWS Lloyd Godman

books dvds

books dvds

A catalogue of Bromeliads used for various projects by - Lloyd Godman

This is a catalogue of bromeliads used by Lloyd godman for his various installations and photosynthesis projects - the collection of pants he accessed in New Zealand from 1996 - 2004 was collected from a wide range of sources, while most were brought from Greens Bromeliads, some were also donated by the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. Later in 2004 these plants were either sold or given away with his move to Australia.

Lloyd is at present re-establishing his collection where he now lives in Melbourne.

A Lexicon of Bromeliads: A resource by Lloyd Godman

Genus - Tillandsia: Sub-Family - Tillandsioideae: Family - Bromeliad

Tillandsias are regarded as true air plants and as such are among the most unusual of the Bromeliad family. They range from bulbous forms and grass like structures to silver tufted masses. Typically they grow where there is free air movement like high treetop environments or across open rock faces, and often they are heavily covered in silver trichomes that help reflect the high levels of sun light they receive in these locations. While some tolerate temperatures as low as 5 degrees C (40 degrees F), or even lower, most prefer temperatures of around 10-32 degrees C (50-32 degrees F). While they require high levels of humidity, they need to dry out quickly and completely between misting or watering. As the trichome scales open to absorb moisture and close to retain it, it is important that the plants are given time to dry out and most plant deaths occur because of over watering.

Tillandsimania - is an interactive PDF and a work in progress which is updated annually for more information - Tillandsia – air plant E book

$32 Australian  including P&P To purchase a DVD

email lloydgodman at gmail.com

 

 

Tillandsia tectorum - 2010  

Tillandsia tectorum

detail fo Tillandsia tectorum trichomes



.







Years ago when many botanists made collecting trips to Peru they'd encounter (around Xmas time) huge piles of tectorum strewn about villages to be used as snow to decorate their rooftops in their holiday decorations. Afterwards the plants would be unceremoniously dumped on the edge of town to die. The name tectorum actually means something like "roof plant".

Family: Bromeliad

Sub-Family: Tillandsioideae

Genus: Tillandsia

Sub-Genus:

Native distribution: There are many different forms of T.tectorum and their habitat is high up in Peru, way high!

Habit:

Foliage: The leaves of all t, tectorums are covered with highly visible silver trichomes. The reason for their heavy "armor" of trichomes is to deflect the intense UV rays of high altitudes.

Flowers: 

Seed:

Pups:

Cultivation: Tectorums get by with just the barest of moisture in nature. The reason they are so heavily scaled (white trichomes) is because they grow at such a high and dry altitudes. This covering protects against extreme ultra-violet light (we're talking HIGH up!) and picks up what little condensation from fog they can. For this reason they can go weeks, months, without a good dose of water.

Fertilization: A mist every week with Epiphyites Delight or Epsom salts during the growing season will help the plant.

( Epiphyte’s Delight fertilizer was developed for a special reason. Nitrogen promotes foliar growth. If you have Tillandsias, Orchids, or other epiphytes and you feed them, take a look at the nitrogen content. If it’s high in urea, the plants can’t use it because the urea needs a bacteria in soil to break it down into ammonia and nitrates. Since the epiphytes don’t have any soil they can’t break down the urea. It was for this reason that we had Epiphyte’s Delight formulated. It contains only ammoniacal and nitrate nitrogen which is immediately accessible and usable by the plants.)

Availability: A highly sort after plant not readily avaiulable