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****  FLORIDA'S NATIVE BROMELIADS  ****
Tillandsia x floridana
No Common Name



Tillandsia flexuosa

Scientific name:
 Tillandsia x floridana  (L.B. Smith) H. Luther (Natural hybrid of Tillandsia bartramii (Bartram’s airplant) and Tillandsia fasciculata (cardinal airplant)).

Former names: Tillandsia hystricina  Small; Tillandsia fasciculata  var. floridana L.B. Smith.

Common names: No common name.
Status in Florida: Thought to be precinctive (found nowhere else).

Threats to this plant in Florida: Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona),  illegal collecting, habitat destruction.

Distribution: Florida.

Distribution in Florida: Broward, Citrus, DeSoto, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Manatee, MiamiDade, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and Volusia Counties.

Occurrence in Florida: Occasional

Habitat:  Cypress swamps and hammocks

Description:  Plants usually in clusters; grows to 60 cm (24 in.) when flowering; 20-50 grayish leaves, erect to slightly spreading; sheath brown toward base, not forming pseudobulb; inflorescence conspicuous, 15-30 cm (6-12 in.); bracts erect, like leaves but gradually smaller; 2-7 spikes, with 2-10 lateral branches; floral bracts red to rose; 10-40 flowers; petals violet, to 4.5 cm (1 ¾ in.). T. x floridana is often confused with T. bartramii and T. simulata, which both have narrow leaves.

Time of flowering:  Spring - fall.


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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Florida's Native Bromeliads

Web master: tmcooper@ufl.edu
Last update: 17 February 2016