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Species library › Tillandsia › Tillandsia chontalensis
Other Partly documented

Tillandsia chontalensis

A green, soft-leaved epiphytic bromeliad, also known as Vriesea chontalensis, found from Costa Rica and Panama to Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. It grows as a clumping rosette on tree bark in humid premontane and montane forest, with wine-red leaf sheaths and red floral bracts. As a mesic green tillandsia, it wants more shade, more humidity and more frequent water than the grey air plants.

At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Collection labels describe a caespitose epiphyte on tree bark in well-preserved, very humid lower montane forest with heavy epiphyte loads, including dwarf cloud forest. One Colombian record is from rock-outcrop vegetation.

Records span 146–2400 m, and most Colombian collections lie between about 450 and 1300 m. Costa Rican and Ecuadorian records are higher, at 1550–2400 m.

Costa RicaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáColombiaEcuadorBolivia

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app.