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Tillandsia flexuosa; photograph (c) Ben Machado, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Ben Machado, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-18

Tillandsia flexuosa Sw.

Twisted airplant; Flexuous Wild-Pine; Striped airplant; Banded airplant

Bromeliaceae · Florida, Mexico Southeast +20 · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Tillandsia flexuosa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia flexuosa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia flexuosa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia flexuosa, photograph (c) Tom Field, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia flexuosa, photograph (c) Tom Field, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia flexuosa, photograph (c) Tom Field, some rights reserved (CC BY) 78 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
20.3°C
Record low 17.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,552mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
29–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to June and August to November (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Tillandsia flexuosa, the twisted airplant, is a species of bromeliad in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to Central America, southeastern Mexico (Veracruz, Yucatán Peninsula), northern South America (Colombia, Venezuela, Guianas) and the United States (Florida).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tillandsia flexuosa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Tillandsia

Tillandsia is a genus of around 650 species of evergreen, perennial flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, native to the forests, mountains and deserts of the Neotropics, from northern Mexico and the southeastern United States to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to central Argentina. Their leaves, more or less silvery in color, are covered with specialized cells (trichomes) capable of rapidly absorbing water that gathers on them.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tillandsia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an epiphyte, listed under the genus Tillandsia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,033 mm of 1,449 mm) falls in May to June and August to November. The temperature curve is flat, 1.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,449 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,033 mm of it May to June and August to November. Wettest month October at 214 mm, driest month January at 20 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,108 mm to 3,169 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,552 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,449 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 20.3 °C, the absolute minimum 17.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.7 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range 19.8 °C to 24.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.7 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -18 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Tillandsia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “epiphyte”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Tillandsia flexuosa through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low 22.7 °C; 1,449 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°40°45°39.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER17.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 29–37RH 60–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 232 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C31 / 26–3332 / 26–3432 / 26–3430 / 27–3329 / 27–3129 / 26–3130 / 26–3230 / 27–3329 / 28–3229 / 28–3129 / 27–3029 / 26–31
Night °C23 / 20–2424 / 20–2524 / 20–2524 / 21–2524 / 20–2524 / 20–2523 / 19–2524 / 20–2523 / 20–2523 / 20–2523 / 20–2523 / 20–25
Rain mm20 / 7–12029 / 8–14743 / 15–201114 / 55–337180 / 123–459153 / 74–426147 / 52–397161 / 50–340175 / 68–303214 / 139–309150 / 111–25363 / 36–178
DLI35 / 31–3636 / 32–3837 / 33–4134 / 30–4131 / 27–3931 / 26–3633 / 28–3734 / 30–3933 / 30–3831 / 28–3629 / 28–3331 / 29–34
RH %61 / 53–6660 / 53–6560 / 55–6564 / 59–6868 / 60–7167 / 59–7066 / 56–7066 / 55–7067 / 57–7068 / 59–7167 / 61–7165 / 58–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 232 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (695 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1683:2227 (5.825, -68.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 232 distinct grid cells holding 695 of the 697 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1683:2227 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.00_-68.750, lapse-corrected -18 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 71 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFlorida, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Panama, Aruba, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker10.218, -75.382 · in the densest population, 346 records (40% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 856 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 695 of them in the land cells it reads, of 697 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 260 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 60 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 159 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 856 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Tillandsia flexuosa, photograph 1did not loadTillandsia flexuosa, photograph 2did not loadTillandsia flexuosa, photograph 3did not loadTillandsia flexuosa, photograph 4did not loadTillandsia flexuosa, photograph 5did not loadTillandsia flexuosa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Tom Field, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Sterculia apetala Sterculia apetala Panama tree Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezCordia collococca Cordia collococca Clammy cherry Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández Tabernaemontana cymosa Apocynaceae Chomelia spinosa Chomelia spinosa Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Jeaustin BrenesSapium glandulosum Sapium glandulosum Gumtree Photo: CC BY, Guillaume DelaitreSabal mauritiiformis Sabal mauritiiformis Trinidad palm Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch Uribe

Other Tillandsia 199 in the reference

Tillandsia abdita Bromeliaceae Tillandsia achyrostachys Tillandsia achyrostachys Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Arturo Castro CastroTillandsia aeranthos Tillandsia aeranthos Bromeliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedTillandsia aizoides Tillandsia aizoides Bromeliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedTillandsia albertiana Tillandsia albertiana Bromeliaceae Photo: Public domain, Dave PapeTillandsia albida Tillandsia albida Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, José Belem Hernández DíazTillandsia andicola Tillandsia andicola Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Benjamin BenderTillandsia andreana Tillandsia andreana Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Laurimar SepulvedaTillandsia araujei Tillandsia araujei Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, fmunozTillandsia arequitae Tillandsia arequitae Bromeliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedTillandsia argentea Tillandsia argentea Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaTillandsia argentina Tillandsia argentina Bromeliaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated all 200 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Anoplophytum flexuosum; Platystachys aloifolia; Platystachys patens; Tillandsia aloifolia; Tillandsia flexuosa f. alba and 5 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Bromeliaceae
Described by
Sw.
Native to
Florida, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica +19
Wild records
856 in range · 260 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 6.00_-68.750, lapse-corrected -18 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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