Tillandsia caliginosa, catalogue of Bromeliad plants

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.

Plants are marked NZ for those collected in New Zealand - or Aust - for the new plants collected since coming to Australia

Tillandsia chartacea - (char-TAH-say-a) Named by L.B.Smith

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Family: Bromeliad

Sub-Family: Tillandsioideae:

Genus: Tillandsia

Sub-Genus:

Native distribution: From Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.

Habit: Tillandsia chartacea is a long, caulescent growing species that is normally hung upside down. The growing tip then gradually turns around and grows upright, toward the light. This species produces somewhat stoloniferous (growing on a stem) offsets that continue growing along the length of the plant which can cause a generational T. chartacea to reach a length of 3 meters (10') or more!

Foliage: The stiff green silver leaves are relativly short but wide at the base

Flowers: The coral pink inflorescence forms at the end of a long thin stem

Seed:

Pups:

Cultivation: It's easy to grow in a bright area but it's rare.

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: