Catopsis floribunda
Florida Strap Airplant
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Scientific name:
Catopsis floribunda (Brongn.) L.B. Smith.
Common names:
Florida strap airplant, many-flowered catopsis, many-flowered airplant,
Florida catopsis.
Status in
Florida: Endangered.
Threats to
this plant in Florida: Illegal collecting,
Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona), habitat destruction.
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Distribution:
Florida, Mexico, West Indies, Central and South America.
Distribution
in Florida: Broward, Collier, MiamiDade, and Monroe
Counties.
Occurrence in
Florida: Rare.
Habitat: Humid, shady habitats: terrestrial (rockland hammock), palustrine
(strand swamp).
Description:
Tank
epiphyte; grows to 70 cm (28 in.) tall; long, bright green leaves,
20-40 cm (8-16 in.), with wide bases and narrowing at tip; flower stalk
25 cm (10 in.) or longer, with 5-15 lateral branches and 15-50 flowers;
yellow or white petals; mature seed capsules up to 1.4 cm (1/2 in.)
long; vegetative in every month.
Time of
flowering: Fall - winter.
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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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