Tillandsia cotton candy, 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.

Tillandsia cotton candy - Aust 2010

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Family: Bromeliad

Sub-Family: Tillandsioideae:

Genus: Tillandsia

Sub-Genus:

Native distribution: N/A hybrid

Seed parent: T.Stricta

Pollen Parent: T. Recurvifolia

Habit: Cotton Candy' is a hybrid cultivar - Stricta X Recurvifolia. It is a medium sized plant and hardy. and loves to grow in well lit areas.

Foliage: The plant produces many elegant leaves which are long and thin. They form a dense silver trichome layer which affords the plant an attractive silver appearance.

Flowers: The plant has a stunning pink balloon like flower spike-with where the many floral bracts appear to be inflated. it forms small lilac-violet flowers.

Seed:

Pups: After flowering the plant can produce 3 - 6 pups which mature in 2 years.

Cultivation: The plant is very easy to grow and vigorous. The plant tolerates both hot dry and moist conditions.

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: Often available