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Tillandsia ionantha
Family: Bromeliaceae
Common Names: air plant, sky plant, blushing bride Origin: Tillandsia ionantha originates from Mexico, Central America, and South America Description: Tillandsia ionantha is a flowering epiphyte (lacking true roots), considered to be stem-less with thin blade-like leaves arising from a central rosette (2,3,4). The leaves are succulent, but rigid, and coated with white/gray trichomes giving it a rough surface texture (2,4,6). The plant’s trichomes on the leaf blades give its foliage an overall grey-green coloration (2). When flowering, the inner leaves turn a bright red color (3,7). The perfect flowers are tubular, approximately 2 inches long, and vary in color from blue, to violet or purple (3,6,7). The bright yellow stamen and pistils protrude past the blue-purple corolla (3,7). When pollinated, the flowers form 3 cm long fruits, called capsules. Each seed in the fruit has a feather-like appendage to facilitate wind-dispersal (3). Offshoots develop from the plant creating a cluster of plants over time (3,4,7).
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