Tillandsia streptocarpa
A silvery, xeric Tillandsia of the seasonally dry lowlands and foothills of central South America, from Peru and Bolivia through Paraguay and northern Argentina to eastern Brazil. It grows on trees and shrubs in open dry forest and scrub and is well known in cultivation for its fragrant blue-violet flowers. Grow it bright, airy and dry between waterings, with a leaner winter.
Where it grows wild
An epiphyte on trees and shrubs in open, seasonally dry vegetation. Brazilian herbarium labels describe it as an epiphytic herb with silvery leaves, and records come from the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil, the dry Chaco of Paraguay and northern Argentina (Salta) and southern Brazil. The dense silvery trichomes mark it as a plant of bright, exposed sites that dry quickly.
Elevations are rarely given in the records reviewed. Most records are from lowland and foothill regions (the Caatinga, Chaco and southern Brazil), and the Andean parts of the range in Bolivia and Peru extend into higher dry valleys. Treat it as a lowland-to-foothill plant that tolerates cool winters.
🔒 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 streptocarpa? 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 3.0 licence, unmodified.