Scientific name:  Tillandsia flexuosa Swartz

Other common names: Banded airplant; flexuous wild-pine; striped airplant

Former name: Tillandsia aloifolia Hook

Status in Florida: Threatened

Threats to this plant: Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona), illegal collecting, habitat destruction

Distribution: Florida, West Indies, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia

Distribution in Florida: Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Hendry, Highlands, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach Counties

Occurrence in Florida: Infrequent

Habitat: Exposed habitats, often near the coast; terrestrial (xeric hammock [pinelands, scrub], shell mound, rockland hammock, coastal berm, maritime hammock); marine (marine tidal swamp); estuarine (estuarine tidal swamp)

Description: Tank epiphyte; 20-80 cm (8-31 in.) tall; pale gray leaves with twisted tips and broad white bands; slender inflorescence, simple or with few branches; spreading floral bracts; zig-zag (flexuous) floral axis (flower stem); flowers spreading, with sepals 2-3 cm (3/4 - 1 1/8 in.) long and rose or purple petals (4 cm [1 1/2in.] long), capsules 5 cm (2 in.) long

Time of flowering: Every month except November and December, mostly spring-summer

References:
Coile, Nancy C. 2000. Notes on Florida's Endangered and Threatened Plants. FDACS/DPI, Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology, Botany Section. Contribution No. 38, 3rd ed., Gainesville, FL. http://www.virtualherbarium.org/EPAC

Flora of North America Association. 2000. Flora of North America, Vol. 22. http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/FNA

Florida Natural Areas Inventory. 1997. Matrix of Habitats and Distribution by County of Rare/Endangered Species of Florida. Florida Natural Areas Inventory/The Nature Conservancy. http://www.fnai.org

Long, Robert W. and Olga Lakela. 1976. A Flora of Tropical Florida. Banyan Books, Miami.

Ward, Daniel B. (ed.). 1979. Plants, Vol. 5. In: Rare and Endangered Biota of Florida, P.C.H. Pritchard (ed.). University Presses of Florida, Gainesville, 175 p.