Tillandsia

Las bromeliáceas (nombre científico Bromeliaceae) forman una familia de plantas monocotiledóneas que consta de hierbas perennes terrestres o epífitas, o arbustos, oriundas de las regiones tropicales y templadas del Nuevo Mundo (salvo una sola especie al oeste de África), que poseen hojas arrosetadas, flores y brácteas coloridas y vistosas, y los estigmas típicamente retorcidos. Un ejemplo de hierba epífita es el clavel del aire (Tillandsia aeranthos), un ejemplo de hierba terrestre es el ananá o piña (Ananas comosus).

El género de plantas epífitas Tillandsia L., con más de 500 especies, es el más diverso de la familia de las bromelias (Bromeliaceae), al cual pertenece también la piña, y se encuentran en los desiertos, bosques y montañas de Centroamérica, Sudamérica, México y en el sur de EE. UU. en Norteamérica.

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Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) is a family of monocot flowering plants of around 2,400 species native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa.[1] The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple (Ananas comosus). Many bromeliads are able to store water in a "tank" formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphytic Tillandsia species that gather water only from leaf structures called trichomes, and a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.

The plant genus Tillandsia, a member of the Bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae), is found in the deserts, forests and mountains of Central and South America, and Mexico and the southern United States in North America. The thinner leafed varieties grow in rainy areas and the thick leafed varieties in areas more subject to drought. Moisture and nutrients are gathered from the air (dust, decaying leaves and insect matter) through structures on the leaves called trichomes. Tillandsia species are epiphytes, i.e. in nature they normally grow without soil, attached to other plants. Epiphytes are not parasitic, and depend on the host only for support. Common names for Tillandsia include air plant, ball moss (T. recurvata) and Spanish moss, the latter referring to T. usneoides in particular.

The genus Tillandsia was named by Carolus Linnaeus after the Finnish physician and botanist Dr. Elias Tillandz (originally Tillander) (1640-1693).