Tillandsia spiculosa
Content
Description
Plant acaulescent, very variable in size and color, flowering up to 1 m long, with a 12-50 cm tall rosette of 10-20more or less lustrous-green leaves. Leaves subcoriaceous, 10-47 cm long, about equaling or much shorter than the scape, rarely exceeding the inflorescence; sheaths ample, somewhat contracted or merging into the blade, suborbicular to oblong, inflated-convex, 4.5-24 x 3-9 cm, densely (minutely) appressed-lepidote, dull-brown below; blades arching or erect, ligulate or very narrowly subtriangular, about as long as the sheath, 5-25 x 1-4.5 cm, broadly rounded or obtuse and apiculate, or attenuately subacute, sparsely appressed-lepidote, yellowish- to dark-green, often tinged or marked with purple-red. Inflorescence erect, loosely or subdensely bi-or tripinnate, distichously few- to many (12) branched, green to purple-red; scape 10-70 cm long, 1-4 mm in diam., subglabrous to subdensely lepidote or floccose, often for most part hidden by bracts; scape bracts erect, imbricate to remote, chartaceous, ovate-lanceolate, but the upper ones more ovate, apiculate or subacute, somewhat longer to shorter than the internodes, densely appressed-lepidote; axis for most part exposed, often elongate, mostly curved, angled (when dry), subglabrous, lepidote or floccose; primary bracts as the upper scape bracts, but soon becoming smaller and more broadly ovate, spreading with the often secund branches, shorter than to exceeding the sterile part of the branches; peduncle mostly short but sometimes to 2 cm long, only prophyllate, angled; spikes often decurving, linear(-lanceolate) in outline, 2.5-9.5 x 0.5-1 cm, acutish, (sub-) densely and distichously (3-)6-27-flowered, often with a few imbricate sterile bracts at the apex; rachis mostly partly exposed, at least after anthesis (when dry), almost straight to flexuous, angled, (sparsely) lepidote; floral bracts suberect and imbricate or spreading, coriaceous, (broadly) ovate, 0.4-0.7(-0.9) cm long, about twice (or less) as long as the internodes, slightly shorter to exceeding the sepals, obscurely apiculate, ecarinate, often strongly curved, sparsely to subdensely appressed-lepidote, greenish, yellow-brown or dull purple-rose. Flowers contiguous or spreading, sessile; receptacle obconic, bi-angled (alate when dry), ca. 2 mm long; sepals coriaceous, with even surface, asymmetrically 4.5-6 mm long, emarginate, free, posterior ones fleshy and bluntly angled near the base, strongly curved, sparsely or subdensely appressed-lepidote with minute, dark-centered (when dry) scales; petals only spreading at the apex, ovate or oblong, slightly exceeding the sepals, ca. 5-6 mm long, with very small yellow blade, obtuse; stamens equal in length, deeply included, ca. 3.5 mm long, exceeding the pistil by half of the anthers, filaments thin, flat, ovate-lanceolate, anthers subbasifixed, sagittate, 1-1.5 mm long; ovary subglobose, abruptly contracted into the short style (ca. 0.5 mm), stigmas short-linear, longer than the style. Capsule slenderly cylindric, more than 5 times as long as the bracts, 1.8-2.8 cm long, abruptly short-beaked.