Tillandsia x floridana
No Common Name
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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.
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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.
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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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