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A silver rosetted species from Guatemala. Dale Dixon says on Bromeliads in Australia: "Tillandsia plagiotropica (subg. Tillandsia) is endemic to El Salvador and is found in cloud forests on lake margins at elevations between 1300-1640 m. The species epithet refers to the mostly horizontally oriented main axis of the individual rosettes. It is derived from the Greek 'plagios' meaning slanting or sideways and '-tropic' meaning 'turned toward' or 'with an orientation toward'. In the case of this species it refers to the plants growing more or less divergent from the vertical." An article ny Harry Luther is quoted on Bromeliads in Australia: "Tillandsia plagiotropica Rohweder has received little attention from the bromeliad hobbyist and is botanically poorly known and infrequently collected. This small species was first discovered in El Salvador in 1950 and described by Otto Rohweder (1953). It has since been found in Guatemala. It is a minor export item of the tillandsia nurseries of that country. Flowering plants are compact, 8 to 15 cm in diameter; the rather stiff and somewhat succulent leaves are densely appressed lepidote, silvered gray to white and up to 1 cm in width. The capitate inflorescence is low in the rosette and is depauperately compound or simple. The bracts (and occasionally the innermost leaves) are tan to creamy yellow. The corolla is tubular, pure white and shorter than the stamens and style. Tillandsia plagiotropica is an epiphyte in cloud forest at 1300-1700 m elevation. According to Rohweder (1956), it occurs in El Salvador with T. juncea, fasciculata, rodrigueziana and an unidentified Billbergia species. In Florida, it exhibits distress at high temperatures and is considered difficult to maintain in cultivation." |
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| 4th April 2007 | ||
