Tillandsia utriculata
Giant Airplant
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Scientific name: Tillandsia utriculata
L.
Common names:
Giant wild pine, swollen wild pine, spreading airplant.
Status in Florida:
Endangered (listed as a result of Mexican bromeliad weevil
attack).
Threats to
this plant in Florida: Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona),
illegal collecting, habitat destruction.
Distribution: Florida,
West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America.
Distribution
in Florida: Northern limits are Putnam, Flagler, Sumter,
Lake, and Citrus Counties (found in those and all counties south).
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Occurrence in Florida:
Before the Mexican bromeliad weevil, frequently found, often in very
large, dense populations; now, rare and sparse.
Habitat:
Dry and mesic hammocks, cypress swamps, pinelands.
Description:
Tank epiphyte (may grow terrestrially); plants grow singly, to 2m (6
½ ft.) tall; 20-75 large, light green to
gray-green leaves (up to 80 cm [31 in.] long) with wide base and
scales; erect, zig-zag, branching flower spike 1-2 m (4080 in.) long
(5-40 branches); floral bracts green or purple tinged; 10-200 flowers,
4 cm (1 ½ in.) long; petals white at base, violet at end;
seed capsules up to 5 cm (2 in.) long; monocarpic (produces single
flower spike, releases seed and dies); low rate of vegetative
reproduction; seeds wind dispersed; may live to 20 years.
Time of
flowering: Spring to fall (especially summer); seeds are
released the following year in late spring.
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References
Coile NC. 2000. Notes on Florida's Endangered and Threatened
Plants. FDACS/DPI,
Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology, Botany Section.
Contribution No. 38, 3rd ed., Gainesville, FL.
http://www.virtualherbarium.org/EPAC
Florida Natural Areas Inventory.
1997. Matrix of Habitats and Distribution by County of
Rare/Endangered
Species of Florida. Florida Natural Areas Inventory/The Nature
Conservancy.
http://www.fnai.org
Long RW, Lakela O. 1976. A Flora of Tropical Florida.
Banyan Books, Miami. 178 p.
Luther
HE, Benzing DH. 2009. Native Bromeliads of
Florida. Sarasota, FL. Pineapple Press,
Inc.
Ward
DB (ed.). 1979. Plants, Vol. 5. In: Rare and Endangered Biota of
Florida, P.C.H. Pritchard (ed.). University Presses of Florida,
Gainesville, 175 p.
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