Tillandsia pohliana - Pohl's Air Plant

Pohl's Air Plant is a medium sized, stemless or shart-stemmed plant growing on trees, reaching 20-25 cm with numerous, flexible, 20 cm long leaves that form a wide rosette. It is named for a female relative of Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl, 19th century German botanist and explorer in Brazil. The interesting aspect of the plant, which probably gave it its common name, is that it can be grown suspended or mounted on a solid substrate that does not retain water. This air plant blooms from the simple inflorescence in an ear whose flowers are arranged in a helix. The bracts of the flowering stem are stuck to the stem and are long and scaly. The floral bracts are very broad, oval, pink with orange-red hues, exceeding the flowers at the base of the inflorescence, covered with scales, especially at the level of the tip. The flowers are almost stalkless, non-tubular, 2.5 cm long, very beautiful, white. The stamens and pistil do not protrude out. Pohl's Air Plant is native to South America, cultivated elsewhere.