Sign in Start free
Species library › Tillandsia › Tillandsia complanata
Other Partly documented

Tillandsia complanata

A soft, green-leaved epiphytic Tillandsia of cool Andean and Caribbean montane forests, from about 1,600 to 3,500 m. Its short inflorescences grow from the leaf axils beneath the rosette rather than from the centre, which is why it was once named Tillandsia axillaris. It is a cloud-forest plant, not a xeric air plant, and needs cool, humid, shaded conditions.

Tillandsia complanata
Photo: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Herbarium labels record it as an epiphyte in humid Andean forest, oak (Quercus) forest and cloud forest, occasionally in páramo edges; it also turns up on trees in farmland near forest.

Specimens range from about 1,600 m (Cuba) to 3,500 m (Colombia), mostly 2,400–3,200 m; the Colombian catalogue gives 800–3,650 m.

ColombiaVenezuelaEcuadorPeruBoliviaNorthern BrazilGuyanaCosta RicaPanamaCubaJamaicaTrinidad

🔒 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

Grow Tillandsia complanata? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Tillandsia

Tillandsia paucifolia Tillandsia recurvata Tillandsia fasciculata Tillandsia ionantha Tillandsia juncea Tillandsia polystachia Tillandsia tenuifolia Tillandsia variabilis Tillandsia baileyi Tillandsia bartramii Tillandsia bulbosa Tillandsia capillaris All 750 →

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.0 licence, unmodified.