kids encyclopedia robot

Sky plant facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Sky plant
Purple sky plant - Andrey Zharkikh.jpg
Scientific classification
Genus:
Tillandsia
Species:
ionantha
Synonyms
  • Pityrophyllum gracile Beer
  • Tillandsia rubentifolia Poiss. & Menet

Tillandsia ionantha, the air plant, is a species of plant in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to Central America and Mexico. It is also reportedly naturalized in Broward County, Florida.

Description

They are acaulescent or sometimes shortly caulescent plants, with a size of 6–8cm high. The leaves 4–9cm long; with pods 0.6–1cm wide, densely patent fabric; narrow triangular sheets, 0.3-0.4cm wide, dense lepidota indument, foliaceous bracts; compound inflorescence (of simple appearance due to the reduction of the spikes to 1 flower), with 1-3 flowers, primary foliaceous bracts, much longer than the spikes, floral bracts 3cm long, longer than the sepals and covering them in the anthesis, ecarinated, inconspicuously nervate, glabrous, membranous, sessile flowers; sepals are 2cm long, free, the posterior carinate, the anterior ecarinated; purple petals. Capsules are 2.5-4.5cm long.

Taxonomy

Tillandsia ionantha was described by Jules Emile Planchon and published in Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe 10: 101, t. 1006. 1854-1855 [1855].

Etymology

  • Tillandsia: generic name that was named by Carl Linnaeus in 1738 in honor of the Finnish doctor and botanist Elias Tillandz (originally Tillander ) (1640-1693).
  • ionantha: epithet Latin meaning "with violet flowers"

Synonymy

  • Tillandsia ionantha f. fastigiata P.Koide
  • Tillandsia ionantha var. Max Ehlers
  • Tillandsia ionantha var. LBSmith scaposa
  • Tillandsia ionantha var. P.Koide stricta
  • Tillandsia ionantha var. van-hyningii MBFoster
  • Tillandsia ionantha var. zebrina BTFoster
  • Tillandsia rubentifolia Poisson & Menet
  • Tillandsia scopus Hook. F. 4

Varieties

Two varieties are recognized:

  1. Tillandsia ionantha var. ionantha - most of species range
  2. Tillandsia ionantha var. stricta Koide - Oaxaca

Gallery

  • Matthaei Botanical Gardens - IMG 8999

    A plant in display

  • Tillandsia ionantha - Lyman Plant House, Smith College - DSC04227

    On a display

  • Tilandsia Ionantha flower

    Inflorescence closeup

  • Tillandsia ionantha 2

    Flowering on a fence

  • Tillandsia ionantha "Druid"

    Cultivar Tillandsia 'Druid'

  • 20100522 Tillandsia Victoria

    Cultivar Tillandsia 'Victoria'

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Tillandsia ionantha para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Sky plant Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.