My book on Tillandsia's arrived today. Thought I would never be able to afford this book as you can not buy them in Australia. When I 1st started looking at this book some years ago the cost was around $500 with mailing seem to be a common price so I started looking for 2nd hand copies and with great happiness I found this 2nd hand book mailed for $60. I just could not believe it and was later very worried that I had a very damaged book coming but I am more than happy with the condition it is in. Happy Days.

But a Question? Is there any other books that are apart of a series, to this book that I should be looking for by the same author?

This book was printed in 1987 called Tillandsia by Paul T. Isley III

https://i.imgur.com/RLwAdP7.jpg?2

Nice home grown bunch of Tillandsia mallemontii in flower.

The scent is a very nice strong sweet smell. At present the flowers fill the bush house with their very pleasant aroma. They really like being in a more shaded area with filtered light than most other Tillandsia's I have. They grow really quickly here.

Tillandsia mallemontii

https://i.imgur.com/pvXZssU.jpg?2

Accessories Tillandsia II

That is a lovely clump of T. mallemontii! Definitely a nice fragrant species that is often (IMO) overlooked and under-rated.

just ordered a couple. looks like I better not put it under the lights my other air-plants enjoy.

"Also had an issue with saying funckiana.lol"


To me, it sounded like a name that harkened back to the disco era. heh


"When I 1st started looking at this book some years ago the cost was around $500 with mailing seem to be a common price..."


Egads!!! Are they mental!?! :shock: I have never seen any book for which I would pay that kind of $. It's not like it was a first print edition signed book by Edgar Allen Poe or such. Glad you found one for a far more reasonable price. OoC, what tillie is that featured on the cover?

Hi Paul

Sometimes the AU$ get to around US$60c. Makes it real hard to buy from the US. And yes it was great to get that book at a good price.

The cover plant is a rare lepidote form of T. stricta.

To me it looks like T. houston or T. cotton candy.

A new member to the bush house is Tillandsia utriculata var pringlei (small form). This variety pups in great numbers making it an excellant find. Will tolerate low light conditions but it reduces it growing speed dramatically. Have been able to get these plants in numbers at a very good price. More minitures just what we need!

There is another Tillandsia utriculata var pringlei being a larger form. This form also pups readerly.

Tillandsia utriculata is very different plant being a much larger and produce one pup if any. The leaves a bright light green. There are many forms of this plant.

Tillandsia utriculata var pringlei ( smaller form).

https://i.imgur.com/Eh5N48Q.jpg?3

Have had a lot of trouble with growing Tillandsia velekiana. This is one of my bad choices.

Summer or winter it hates being wet. Only very light waterings or they just go soft and fall apart.

Have taken to turning them upside down after watering to totally dry the (root) area of this plant. It also seems to hate humidity.

One has finally flowered. A very light pink colour.

Tillandsia velekiana.

https://i.imgur.com/LaDZuRD.jpg?2

The trichomes look like those of T. tectorum. This made me think this might be a high-elevation species that would not do well in the warm tropics. I decided to look it up on Tropicos to see where it comes from.
Tropicos | Name - Tillandsia velickiana L.B. Sm.

Tillandsia velickiana was described in 1974 by Lyman Bradford Smith from a plant in cultivation. It was said to have been collected by G.J. Velick in 1973 in Guatemala, with no further information. Guatemala has lowland tropics as well as mountains.

But! There's more!

In 1994 T. velickiana was reduced to a synonym of a plant previously described by as T. matudae by Lyman Bradford Smith in 1949.
Tropicos | Name - Tillandsia matudae L.B. Sm.

Matuda collected his Tilly in 1945 in Chiapas, México at 2100 meters elevation. This part of Chiapas gets plenty of summer rain, but it's relatively cool all the time.

So that's why you're having trouble. Your coolest night in Australia might be warmer than its warmest day in habitat, and it is accustomed to jacket weather every night.

Higher-elevation Tillys can be soaking wet at night, when it's good and cool and dewy. They open their pores to breathe at night, when it's cool. When it's too warm they don't breathe well.

They also have longish cool dry periods at various times of the year. You can't really provide long cool dry periods unless you have a friend who air conditions their house excessively. And it's not a good idea to get a plant like this wet on a warm to hot summer night.

During the summer I might consider giving this one an occasional vacation in the refrigerator (not freezer) at night. Get them very wet, and set them in the crisper drawer. Take them out during the day so they can get light. Don't forget them. A few nights in a row would be like a vacation in the mountains for a ditch digger from the tropical lowlands.

Nice job on the flowering! Although I have only grown these indoors under artificial lighting, I have noticed this species does well with regular/consistent watering routines. But (from my experience with growing this plant), T. velickiana will definitely fall apart and become very soft if not allowed to dry out (completely) between waterings. My nighttime temperatures *indoors* hover around the low to mid 70F mark, with daytime highs occasionally hitting the mid/upper 80F range (and humidity levels are all over the map).

Synonyms, especially in regards to Tillandsia names, will oftentimes fuel confusion (eg., matudae, velickiana, oaxacana, feldhoffii). Two very good links (good reads pertaining to T. velickiana) are listed below, if interested.
Tillandsia velickiana
http://journal.bsi.org/PDF/V43/BSI_V43%282%29.pdf (cover photo, pg.59, 60,61,62 & 63)

On page 63 in the BSI journal listed above (the last couple of sentences are interesting): "In closing, I believe I should warn horticulturists that both T. velickiana and T. matudae may present problems in cultivation. Both are native to moist pine/oak cloud forests of ca. 2000 m elevation. This means they require cool nights. They are usually impossible to cultivate in hot, lowland areas.

I especially like the words Harry Luther uses in his article: "may present problems in cultivation" & "usually impossible to cultivate in hot, lowland areas".