Tillandsia
pruinosa
Fuzzywuzzy Airplant
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Scientific name: Tillandsia pruinosa
Swartz.
Former names: Tillandsia breviscapa.
Common names:
Fuzzywuzzy airplant, hoary airplant, tropical airplant.
Status in
Florida: Endangered.
Threats to
this plant in Florida: Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona),
illegal collecting, habitat destruction.
Distribution:
Florida, West Indies, Central and South America.
Distribution
in Florida: Collier County.
Occurrence in
Florida: Rare.
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Habitat: Habitat:
Shady, humid hammocks; palustrine (strand swamp); on dead trees.
Description:
Tank
epiphyte; plants usually grow singly, rarely clustered; grows to 25 cm
(10 in.) tall; 5-10 leaves; scales give leaves a silvery-white, fuzzy
appearance; stem is within a pseudobulb, from which leaves emerge;
flower spike simple; floral bracts are pink, with 5 to many flowers;
violet petals 3 cm (1 1/8 in.) long; seed capsule pointed and
3-sided, up to 4.5 cm (1 3/4 in.) long.
Time of
flowering: All year, especially winter to spring
(mainly 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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