14-162.3
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Tillandsia mereliana Schinini |
(subgen. Aerobia)Publ: Rojasiana 8(1): 73-76 (2008)
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Distribution: PARAGUAY;
Habitat: grows in the Riachos, saline lagoons, riverside forests of the Chaco, the humid plains of Paraguay (Salas Duenas et al 2004) also called humid Chaco, where they accumulate salts on the ground after periodic floods (Mereles & Degen et al 1992). The plant can resist periods under water. It flourishes in the summer, when the temperature is extreme, also the basin of the Riacho Yacare Sur and Campo Marķa harbors great quantities of aquatic birds, and this species provides material to build the nests of many birds. In their natural environment it is graceful and flexuous, the stem easily fragments, when drying off in the herbarium samples become rigid and chartaceous.
Etymology: I dedicate this species to Dra. Fatima Mereles Haidar, friend and colleague, indefatigable traveler in the Paraguayan Chaco, where we carry out ecological studies in the humidity for the most part of the time.