Tillandsia fasciculata - The "Cardinal" Airplant

 Tillandsia fasciculata is in the process of blooming now. Some in the yard have flowered already, but others are just getting started. It is one of our most striking Tillandsias, and people often mount it on driftwood or trees in their front yards. This species of Tillandsia makes pups, and will form large colonies over time. Sometimes people traveling through the Big Cypress mistake large T. fasciculata colonies in the treetops for squirrel nests.

The colony below started as a tiny rosette - the windblown seed obviously found a foothold in the rough bark of the palm tree. I didn't put it there. It's even bigger now, because this photo is several years old. The plants in our yard were here when we bought the property in 1994. They have grown exuberantly over the years. I have several additional young specimens that obviously started from seeds.

Tillandsia fasciculata
Probably var. densispica

This species sends up a branched inflorescence. As is the case with Tillandsias, the bracts, not the flowers, are the main show. Immature bracts are mostly pinks, yellows and greens. The illustration below isn't the greatest, but it  gives some idea of the colors and shape of the immature inflorescence.  Side branches are just beginning to form.

Young Bloom Spike, Tillandsia fasciculata

As the plant matures the bracts take on much more saturated colors. The sketch below shows one fully opened purple flower, and 1 flower bud. Both the mealy, "scurfy" texture of Tillandsias and the shininess of the bracts can be hard to capture in watercolor. To suggest the scaly surface, I have tried light applications of colored pencils, dry brush watercolor technique, going over the dried surface with white watercolor or marker,  granulating watercolors, and combinations of techniques. (Granulating watercolors are made of pigments that don't dissolve evenly, but form little clumps of color as they dry. They are great at creating the illusion of texture. I use them for things like bark, rocks, sand, rust, or hairy surfaces). I still haven't found a one-size-fits-all technique.


Reds and greens in watercolor look shiny while wet, but dull considerably as they dry. (This actually can be a problem with watercolor in general). In the study below, I went over some of the red bracts with colored pencil to give them more punch. It's pretty obvious which ones I retouched.

Watercolor and Colorerd Pencil Study
Tillandsia fasciculata

 The scurfy texture of  Tillandsias  comes from specialized structures covering the leaves called trichomes. "Trichome" in general is a term meaning hair, or hairlike extension. In the case of Tillandsias, it refers to specialized structures consisting of both live and dead cells which absorb water and nutrients. On these species they are roughly cup-shaped, and mounted on a stem leading to the middle layers of the leaf where photosynthesis occurs.

Rough Sketch of Much Magnified Trichomes covering Tillandsia Leaf from  Above
Stems don't Show

The trichomes are very good at reflecting light, often giving the plants a silvery or "haloed" appearance. This feature reduces water loss by the leaves, and also protects them from harsh sunlight.  Most of Florida's native tillandsias look more silvery than hairy, but the trichomes are obvious under magnification. (Tillandsia pruinosa, the "fuzzy-wuzzy" airplant, is the exception).  In general, the hairier  the  plant, the more drought it can survive.

Tillandsias also reduce water loss by using the photosynthetic process seen in cacti and many succulents, "Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, or CAM. It's complicated, so I'm just going to say here that the stomata of the leaves stay closed during the day, and open at night. Another way of putting it is that it is sort of the opposite of regular photosynthesis, which goes on during daylight hours.

Once common, this airplant is now state listed as threatened due to illegal collecting, habitat loss and the ravages of the Mexican bromeliad weevil. In the early part of the 20th century, truckloads of blooming Tillandsias and orchids were harvested for sale "up North." Though the beetle has been documented in our county, the Tillandsias in our yard have been spared so far. I  keep an eye on them and hold my breath.

Tillandsia fasciculata
Briggs Nature Center Boardwalk

Tillandsia fasciculata grows in hammocks, cypress swamps and pinelands. It occurs in the Florida Keys through the north-central peninsula, Mexico, the West Indies, Central America, and northern South America. There are several varieties.  I am assuming that the ones here are var. densispica, because the other native varieties are rare and limited to Dade County. Tropiflora Nursery in Sarasota sells a rare white variety, Tillandsia fasciculata var. densispica alba.

They receive no care at all in our yard, but are protected in or under shrubs or trees. If I am watering something  nearby, I may give them a sprinkle too. If one falls off onto the ground, I stick it back between branches to reduce the chance of rotting.

Insects, lizards and other small animals may shelter in their leaves. Once a beautiful corn snake crawled out from a large bromeliad I had brought indoors to draw. Catching it to take it back outside was no easy matter! I have seen a photograph of a Florida panther sheltering/hiding behind a large Tillandsia fasciculata colony.

All in all, it is yet another of Florida's beautiful native plants, and like too many of them is besieged by our activities. 

Tillandsia balbisiana - The "Coke Bottle" Airplant

For the last couple of days I have been working hard on a drawing, as opposed to a sketch, of Tillandsia balbisiana. Eventually it will become the base for a watercolor painting, but it is arduous going. Some of its common names are "northern needle leaf," "inflated wild pine" and "reflexed wild pine." "Pine" here refers not to the tree, but to pineapple. Tillandsia is a genus in Bromeliaceae, sometimes called the "pineapple family."

Quick Sketch of 2 Tillandsia balbisianas

A more descriptive common name, "Coke bottle airplant," refers to  the way its leaves come together about half way up the plant, almost as if tied, and then spill over a more bulbous base. The leaves, which continue up the bloom spike for quite some distance before the flowering bracts form, curl and intertwine gracefully. Figuring out which leaf starts where isn't always easy. Aggravating as it can be, this plant makes me want to draw it again and again.

It is in the process of blooming now. The first sign of impending bloom is the appearance of a spike in shades of pinks and mauves, as opposed to the regular gray greens of the leaves.

Beginning Inflorescence - Watercolor and Pencil Sketch

The inflorescence eventually will branch. While the leaves have a powdery, scurfy appearance, the stem and  flowering bracts are smooth and shiny. The flower is purple, but the bracts, which become a deep rosy red at maturity, are the real show.

Intermediate Stage in Flowering
Note the difference in texture between stem, flowering bracts, and leaves

Tillandsia balbisiana also forms pups. Several colonies of this species are scattered through the scrub oaks of the Naples Preserve, and various trees along the boardwalks of Corkscrew Swamp and the former Briggs Nature Center. (The nature center now houses offices of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, but the boardwalk is still open). It is a rather small airplant, but considering the flowering spike, can get a good 28 centimeters tall.

The leaves of this plant vary from a sweet green to almost silver gray or even reddish, depending on how much sunlight it gets. In the United States it occurs in only in the southern and central Florida peninsula. It also grows in as the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America. It is neither rare nor common in Florida.

It once was considered neither rare nor common, but now is state-listed as "threatened" due to habitat loss and the damage from the accidentally imported Mexican bromeliad weevil, Metamasius callizona, which has devastated vast stands of Florida's native Tillandsias. So far, research in finding effective biological control has been inconclusive at best. The plant is sometimes available from select nurseries licensed by the state. The plants in our yard are descendants of rescues which I was allowed to keep.

Tillandsia balbisiana
Watercolor by Jeanette Lee Atkinson, 2008

Non-writing or non-drawing people sometimes think that those of us who do just somehow "shake it out of our sleeves." In spite of the implication that we don't have to work very hard, that we somehow are more talented than they are, or know some secret that they don't, I think it's meant as a compliment.  But it's much more a question of fanny-in-chair time rather than inspiration. And while said fanny is occupying said chair, other things are happening all around that don't get drawn or written about, because there just isn't time. And there's always the laundry.