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Tillandsia imperialis; photograph (c) harrier, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) harrier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2022-04-24

Tillandsia imperialis É.Morren ex Roezl

Imperial airplant

Bromeliaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +2 · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY)Tillandsia imperialis, photograph (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY) 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
6.8°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (the weather cell's ground is too far off) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,740mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Tillandsia imperialis is an epiphytic species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. This species is endemic to Mexico, specifically the states Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, and Veracruz, at elevations ranging from 800 to 2,600 meters. Its distribution is generally on the eastern portion of the eastern Sierra Madre Mountains and the eastern portion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. This species is primarily epiphytic to the branches and holes of the tree species Pinus patula and Quercus laurina, or on lianas of the same trees, in moist cloud forests. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tillandsia imperialis", 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 summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,238 mm of 1,650 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.2 °C against a yearly mean of 14.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Rain

1,650 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,238 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 303 mm, driest month March at 39 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 978 mm to 2,445 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,740 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,650 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: 25 to 40 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 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 4.0 °C to 10.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.0 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 6.8 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell whose ground is too far above or below the typical spot to correct for, and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 71% 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. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. 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 imperialis through the yearWarmest months April and May, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 6.8 °C; 1,650 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 25–40RH 60–71%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 100 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 14–2018 / 16–2220 / 18–2422 / 19–2522 / 20–2621 / 18–2520 / 17–2420 / 17–2419 / 16–2318 / 16–2318 / 15–2117 / 14–20
Night °C7 / 4–118 / 5–129 / 6–1311 / 8–1612 / 9–1713 / 10–1812 / 9–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1711 / 8–169 / 6–138 / 5–12
Rain mm44 / 19–7342 / 19–6839 / 17–6364 / 36–98101 / 58–135268 / 140–380254 / 158–457231 / 144–424303 / 181–442182 / 89–27174 / 30–15648 / 17–96
DLI26 / 22–3131 / 27–3536 / 32–4140 / 36–4440 / 38–4236 / 34–3835 / 34–3836 / 34–3830 / 29–3329 / 27–3227 / 24–3125 / 21–29
RH %63 / 58–6761 / 57–6660 / 55–6461 / 56–6464 / 59–6769 / 63–7169 / 64–7270 / 64–7271 / 67–7369 / 64–7165 / 60–6863 / 59–68

The daily extremes were not used: the correction for elevation, +1013 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's. So no cold floor is read for this species, and the coldest month's mean nightly low is not taken as one. What that cell gave, so corrected, over 44 years: absolute minimum -9.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.9 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 100 grid cells holding the 175 in-range records, 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 1406:1656 (19.675, -97.175). 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 100 distinct grid cells holding 175 of the 175 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1406:1656 (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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +1013 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2146 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest · 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 marker18.85, -97.104 · in the densest population, 148 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 226 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 175 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 119 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 65 km away. 14 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 51 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 226 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 imperialis, photograph 1did not loadTillandsia imperialis, photograph 2did not loadTillandsia imperialis, photograph 3did not loadTillandsia imperialis, photograph 4did not loadTillandsia imperialis, photograph 5did not loadTillandsia imperialis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Peter Quakenbush, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

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

Rhynchostele ehrenbergii Rhynchostele ehrenbergii Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, OrchiCestrum fasciculatum Cestrum fasciculatum Early jessamine Photo: CC BY, Shaun SwanepoelBeschorneria yuccoides Beschorneria yuccoides Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY, Arnim LittekEcheveria pinetorum Echeveria pinetorum Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Marco Virgilio Echeveria tencho Crassulaceae Magnolia sharpii Magnolia sharpii Magnoliaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial

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 Guzmania imperialis; Tillandsia strobilantha. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Bromeliaceae
Described by
É.Morren ex Roezl
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +1
Wild records
226 in range · 119 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; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +1013 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: the correction for elevation, +1013 m, is beyond the 1,000 m either way that a lapse rate is applied over, so the weather cell's ground is other terrain than the typical spot's, so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Tillandsia imperialis É.Morren ex Roezl (the item's: IPNI 125246-1, POWO 2928162-1)
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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 26 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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