Bartram's Airplant (Tillandsia bartramii) is found primarily in Florida mostly in the northern part of the state but has been reported in the wild in Hillsborough County. This species is monocarpic and flowers just once before dying although it may take several years to reach a mature size and produce a flower.
Tillandsias: Tillandsias are members of the bromeliad family found in North and South America in many regions from deserts to deep forests. Tillandsias are ephiphites and do not need soil to grow. Ephiphytes are defined by Webster's Dictionary as ". . . a plant that grows upon another plant (as a tree) nonparasitically or sometimes upon some other object (as a building or a telegraph wire), derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone (as many mosses, liverworts, lichens and algae) and in the tropics (as many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads) — called also air plants."
Learn more about the 16 species and 2 natural hybrids of air plants found in Florida at this link.
What's in a name? The genus Tillandsia was named by Carolus Linnaeus after Dr. 
Elias Tillander (1640-1693) who was a Finnish physician and botanist who published the Catalogus Plantarum in 1673. Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778) is the father of modern binomial nomenclature or 'Latin name' which utilizes a genus and specific name or epithet to create a full scientific name for a creature. Binomial nomenclature gets us around the sticky problems of one species having many common names by providing a scientific term by which we will always know which species is being referenced.
0 comments:
Post a Comment