Holst 2020 (Article) Culture

Airplant Aerialists on the High-Wire.

Author(s):—B.K. Holst

Publication:—Journal of the Bromeliad Society 69(3): 54-58. (2020)

Abstract:—Circus tightrope artists do their best to remain in contact with the wire - their goal is staying alive while making a living and entertaining crowds. With tightrope plant artists, their goal is finding a niche to grow and reproduce. Bromeliads are masters of the high-wire, and to my knowledge, the only group of vascular plants that can maintain a perch on wire lines high in the air well enough to flower and set seeds that then drift on the air currents to new perches, be-it wire or wood.