Blushing Bride Airplant (Tillandsia ionantha) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Blushing Bride Airplant is a small air plant native to Mexico and Central America, widely grown indoors in the United States without soil. Its center leaves turn bright red just before violet flowers appear.

Appearance

Growth form: This small evergreen plant grows attached to a surface rather than rooted in soil.
Leaves: Narrow green leaves carry silvery scales, and the inner leaves turn red as flowering begins.
Flowers: Violet tubular flowers rise from the center of the leaf cluster.

Look-alikes

Tillandsia brachycaulos

Blushing Bride Airplant usually forms a compact cluster about 4 in (10 cm) tall, with short pointed leaves. Tillandsia brachycaulos can have much longer leaves, though young plants may be hard to separate from a photo.

Why they get mixed upBoth can flush red before blooming.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: houseplants
mounted displays
Range: Native to Mexico and Central America, it is widely grown as a houseplant in the United States.
Preferred conditions: In the wild, it grows on trees and rocks in seasonally dry places.

Growing it

Care: Give it bright indirect light and regular thorough watering. Shake water from the leaves afterward so it can dry. In the United States it is often displayed on wood or other mounts.
Propagation: New shoots grow beside the parent and can form a clump. Its feathery seeds travel on the wind.

Name and classification

About the name: Tillandsia vanhyningii is sometimes included in this species and sometimes treated as a separate species.
Varieties and forms: Cultivated plants can vary in leaf and flower color.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction

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