Tillandsia harrisii
A silvery, densely scaled Tillandsia endemic to Guatemala. It is found in the seasonally dry country around the Motagua valley and the flanks of the Sierra de las Minas, and in the highlands near Antigua. It is listed on CITES Appendix II and common in cultivation, where it wants bright light, strong air movement and a thorough drying between waterings.
Where it grows wild
Herbarium collections come from Zacapa (a riverbank at Teculután at 500 m, and La Marmolera in the Sierra de las Minas at about 1700 m) and from Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez, at about 1500 m. These are seasonally dry forest and scrub areas where the plant grows attached to trees or rock. The heavy covering of silver trichomes is typical of Tillandsias that take strong light and long dry spells.
Wild specimens were collected at about 500 to 1725 m. Several other specimens come from nurseries.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
Grow Tillandsia harrisii? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.
More Tillandsia
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-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.