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 and habitat: An epiphytic plant from Tacna, South Peru, just north of the Chilean border to Northern Chile. but it is also found growing Terrestrial, 800-1200 m
Growth habit: The leaves are arranged pointing forward from the stem giving a spiky appearance.
Foliage: While the channeled, tapering leaves are silver green, they can take on a reddish tinge.
Flowers:
Seed:
Pups:
Cultivation: Likes a sunny position.
Availability: Rare, not often available.
|