Tillandsia plagiotropica Rohweder

Literature references:

BSA (Web) FCBS (Web) J. Bromeliad Soc.: 44:197 Mak 1996: 23 Oliva-Esteve 2002: 139 Rauh 1981, 1990: Abb. 157 Rauh 1983a: 41:21 Roguenant 2001: 563 Senckenb. biol.: 34:112 Shimizu & Takizawa 1998: 77 Smith & Downs 1977: 1006 Veliz 2010: 66*

*move your mouse pointer over the page numbers to see comment

Comments:

• Tillandsia plagiotropica by Harry Luther in J Brom Soc. 44: 197. 1994
  Tillandsia plagiotropica Rohweder has received little attention from the bromeliad hobbyist and is botanically poorly known and infrequently collected. This small species was first discovered in El Salvador in 1950 and described by Otto Rohweder (1953). It has since been found in Guatemala. It is a minor export item of the tillandsia nurseries of that country. Flowering plants are compact, 8 to 15 cm in diameter; the rather stiff and somewhat succulent leaves are densely appressed lepidote, silvered gray to white and up to 1 cm in width. The capitate inflorescence is low in the rosette and is depauperately compound or simple. The bracts (and occasionally the innermost leaves) are tan to creamy yellow. The corolla is tubular, pure white and shorter than the stamens and style.
  Tillandsia plagiotropica is an epiphyte in cloud forest at 1300-1700 m elevation. According to Rohweder (1956), it occurs in El Salvador with T. juncea, fasciculata, rodrigueziana and an unidentified Billbergia species. In Florida, it exhibits distress at high temperatures and is considered difficult to maintain in cultivation.
  Tillandsia plagiotropica is closely related to the red-bracted, blue-flowered T. kammii Rauh from Honduras. Besides the very different inflorescence coloration, it may be distinguished from the Honduran (and CITES-regulated) species by broader, usually shorter leaves that are stiffer and brittle and more white in color. —See Smith & Downs 1977