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: Not to be confused with Tillandsia zacualpanensis, the plant is found near Zacapa Guatemala where it grows saxicoulously on limestone rocks (shallow clay soil) in dry spinescent forest, at elevations of 600–900 m.
Growth habit:
Foliage: It has hard silver leaves similar to the Xerographica,
Flowers: It forms a multiple bloom spike, with long tubular flower with purple petals
Seed:
Pups:
Cultivation: Keep the plant warm and dry over winter
Availability: A rare sort after plant
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