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Tillandsia simulata; photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-18

Tillandsia simulata Small

Manatee River airplant; Florida airplant; Broad needleleaf airplant

Bromeliaceae · Florida · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Tillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTillandsia simulata, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 72 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.7°C
Record low -7.7 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,357mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–41DLI
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 March and May to September, 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 simulata, common name Florida airplant or Manatee River airplant, is a plant species endemic to Florida. It an epiphyte growing on the branches of various trees and shrubs in the region, mostly in swamps and other moist locations.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Tillandsia simulata", 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 (961 mm of 1,358 mm) falls in March and May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.2 °C against a yearly mean of 22.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March and September.

Rain

1,358 mm in the median year at the habitat, 961 mm of it March and May to September. Wettest month August at 206 mm, driest month November at 55 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,309 mm to 1,412 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,357 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,358 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: 20 to 41 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 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.7 °C, the absolute minimum -7.7 °C, 110 frost nights in 44 years, 2.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 10.7 °C to 13.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.6 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.7 °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: 57 to 64% 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 -11 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 simulata through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.5 °C; 1,358 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.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-7.7° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 20–41RH 57–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 176 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 °C21 / 20–2222 / 21–2324 / 23–2627 / 25–2830 / 28–3131 / 30–3232 / 30–3231 / 30–3230 / 29–3128 / 27–2825 / 24–2522 / 21–23
Night °C12 / 11–1313 / 12–1415 / 14–1617 / 16–1820 / 20–2123 / 23–2424 / 23–2524 / 24–2523 / 23–2420 / 19–2116 / 16–1813 / 12–15
Rain mm63 / 54–7270 / 65–7998 / 89–10463 / 58–6684 / 62–91200 / 175–222197 / 180–215206 / 194–223176 / 163–19181 / 67–11555 / 50–6665 / 52–72
DLI22 / 21–2226 / 25–2733 / 32–3439 / 38–4141 / 40–4238 / 37–3938 / 37–3935 / 35–3631 / 30–3127 / 26–2823 / 21–2420 / 19–20
RH %58 / 58–5958 / 58–6057 / 57–5957 / 56–5958 / 57–6062 / 61–6363 / 62–6464 / 63–6564 / 63–6460 / 60–6159 / 58–5959 / 58–59
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 176 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (346 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is 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 1228:1979 (28.575, -81.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -7.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.7 °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 176 distinct grid cells holding 346 of the 347 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1228:1979 (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 28.50_-81.250, lapse-corrected -11 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 11 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 · 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 marker28.375, -81.453 · in the densest population, 439 records (99% of those in range)
Kew's description“epiphyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 444 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 346 of them in the land cells it reads, of 347 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 131 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 97 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 444 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 simulata, photograph 1did not loadTillandsia simulata, photograph 2did not loadTillandsia simulata, photograph 3did not loadTillandsia simulata, photograph 4did not loadTillandsia simulata, photograph 5did not loadTillandsia simulata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (6).

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

Pityopsis aequilifolia Pityopsis aequilifolia Scrub Goldenaster Photo: CC0, author not statedHypericum tetrapetalum Hypericum tetrapetalum Fourpetal St. Johnswort Photo: CC BY, xanderferretLygodesmia aphylla Lygodesmia aphylla Rose-rush Photo: CC BY, James HardeePhysostegia purpurea Physostegia purpurea False Dragonhead Photo: CC BY, Ashwin SrinivasanDalea feayi Dalea feayi Feay's prairie clover Photo: CC0, author not statedHypericum tenuifolium Hypericum tenuifolium Atlantic St. Johnswort Photo: CC BY, Ashwin Srinivasan

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

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Bromeliaceae
Described by
Small
Native to
Florida
Wild records
444 in range · 131 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 28.50_-81.250, lapse-corrected -11 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 16 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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