Tillandsia rothii
A fairly large, colourful epiphytic Tillandsia from the Pacific coast of western Mexico, described by Werner Rauh in 1976 and the parent of cultivars such as 'Amigo', 'Bahia' and 'Pacific Sunset'. Wild records come from tropical deciduous forest, thorn scrub and mangrove edges near sea level in Jalisco and Colima, where it sits on branches through a long, hot dry season and a short, wet summer. Grow it warm, bright and airy, with a clear wet and dry rhythm.
Where it grows wild
On the branches of trees in low tropical deciduous forest and open savanna-forest of Cordia, Lysiloma, Crescentia, Haematoxylum, Bursera and Acacia with large cacti; also on trees along dry river beds, on seaward slopes and at the edges of brackish coastal lagoons with mangroves. Collectors noted it as very abundant on branches in places.
Mostly near sea level: GBIF specimen elevations cluster between about 20 and 300 m (median about 90 m) around Chamela and the Jalisco coast; one record at 2,499 m is almost certainly an error.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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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 3.0 licence, unmodified.