Species library › Tillandsia › Tillandsia oerstediana
Other Partly documented

Tillandsia oerstediana

Golden bromeliad

An epiphytic Tillandsia from Costa Rica and western Panama, with a rosette of grey-green leaves up to about 40 cm across and a golden flower spike of waxy yellow bracts carrying small pink tubular flowers. It grows on trees on open forested slopes in wet premontane country, mostly on the Pacific side of the Talamanca range. It wants bright light, fresh moving air, mild temperatures and a drier spell in the northern winter.

Tillandsia oerstediana
Photo: Dick Culbert from Gibsons, B.C., Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

An epiphyte on tree trunks and branches on open forested slopes in wet tropical areas. Recent observations cluster around Rivas and San Gerardo in Pérez Zeledón, Capellades in Cartago, San Vito and Sabalito in Coto Brus, and Volcán, Boquete and Paraíso in Chiriquí, Panama, often in forest remnants and on trees in farmland.

The records checked carry no elevations. The towns they cluster around lie at roughly 900–1,800 m, so it is mainly a premontane to lower montane plant; this is inferred from the localities.

Costa RicaPanama (west, Chiriquí)

🔒 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. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 2.0 licence, unmodified.