Tillandsia variabilis Schltdl.

Leatherleaf airplant (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Poales > Bromeliaceae > Tillandsia

Characteristics

Plants usually single, rarely clustering, flowering to 40 cm. Stems short. Leaves 15--20, many-ranked, spreading, gray-green or flushed rose, 12--30 ´ 1--2 cm, finely appressed-scaly; sheath pale to nearly chestnut brown, ovate, flat, not forming pseudobulb, 2--4 cm wide; blade narrowly triangular, tapering evenly from base to apex, nearly plane to channeled, soft, brittle, margins involute, apex attentuate. Inflorescences: scape conspicuous, erect or ascending, 3--10 cm, 2--5 mm diam.; bracts densely imbricate, erect, blade often hanging, like leaves but gradually smaller; sheath of bracts narrowing abruptly into blade; spikes erect or ascending, never palmate, linear, compressed, 5--20 ´ 0.8--1.2 cm, apex acute; simple or laxly 2--3 lateral branches. Floral bracts laxly imbricate, erect, green, red, or purple, broad (covering all or most of rachis, rachis not visible at anthesis), elliptic, keeled toward apex, 1.8--2 ´ 0.6--0.9 cm, leathery, base visible in fruit, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. Flowers 5--30, conspicuous; sepals with adaxial pair connate, oblong, keeled, 1.5--1.8 cm, thin-leathery, slightly veined, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous; corolla tubular, petals erect, lavender-blue, ligulate, to 3 cm; stamens exserted; stigma exserted, conduplicate-spiral. Fruits to 3 cm.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support epiphyte
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.2 - 0.4
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light 7-9
Soil humidity 3-7
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 10-11

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 30 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 15 - 21
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Tillandsia variabilis world distribution map, present in Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, United States of America, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:125769-1
WFO ID wfo-0000586514
COL ID 56YBX
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Tillandsia brachypoda Tillandsia domingensis Tillandsia houzeavii Tillandsia laxa Tillandsia variabilis Tillandsia sublaxa Tillandsia valenzuelana Platystachys moritziana Tillandsia moritziana Tillandsia houzeavi Tillandsia polystachya var. alba