#tillandsia

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Blooms and blush from my airplant children!

[blooming-lenses]

another tillandsia is finally blooming 2026/05/29

[buffetlicious]

My ex-colleague rescued this Airplant (Tillandsia) on the floor next to a block of flat one fine morning on the way to work. It is the smaller mother plant you see on the right (with no flowers) and he offered to let me adopt it. I soaked the plant in water 💧 once a week and after many months or maybe more than a year of waiting, it produced a pup (offset) you see on the left. It grew larger than the mother plant and then one day, the newer leaves started blushing and turning red.

Behold my Blushing Bride (Tillandsia ionantha) produced three tubular purple flowers, each lasting around three days. As the airplant is monocarpic, meaning they flower 🪻 once and then slowly wither and die. This process is not immediate; the mother plant may live for months or years after blooming, during which time it will produce 1–8 "pups" (offsets) at its base. The parent plant often turns brown or dries up, directing all its remaining energy into these new, blooming-ready pups.

[geopsych]

Amazing. I actually don’t know how to take care of these things but this is a pup from one I bought years ago. It bloomed too and now this one is. Some kind of Tillandsia I guess? Anyway, wild colors!

[lichenaday]

Hey! Just came back from a field trip and thought you'd like some South American lichens! Not the best photos because I only had my phone, sorry about that. Also, I'm not a lichen biologist, but I think there may be four to five species? Let me know what you think!

Wow! What gorgeous babies! On that light post (?) alone, I can see at least 9 different species. Quite the diversity for a man-made substrate! And those last 3 pictures are not actually lichens at all, but are a Tillandsia. Often known as airplants, Tillandsias are in the Bromeliad family of flowering plants, and often have an epiphytic lifestyle similar to lichens, to the point that they have convergent evolution (developed similar traits to survive in the the same environment). In fact this guy is Tillandsia unseoides (aka Spanish moss (also not a moss lol)), and its scientific name basically means "resembles an Usnea lichen."

What a fantastic trip! Thank you for keeping an eye out for the little guys while you were there!

[wenbochenphoto]

Air plants can be easily spotted in the parks and gardens in Rio de Janeiro. I particularly like this little Tillandsia stricta, which can be found on most tree trunks with rough and mossy bark.

[xulme]

It's so baby.

[phytophiliac]

Tillandsia ionantha at the CU Greenhouse.