Tillandsia xiphioides

Tillandsia xiphioides is a silvery, stiff-leaved air plant of the dry sierras and valleys of Argentina and neighbouring countries, known for large, fragrant white flowers with frilled petals. It comes from a climate with sunny days, cold dry winters and summer rain, and it tolerates cold better than most tillandsias.

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry

Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

It grows on shrubs and trees and on rocks in dry sierras and open woodland; in Sierra de las Quijadas it has been recorded next to Tillandsia rectangula. Its heavily scaled leaves mark it as a high-light plant of exposed sites.

Hill and mountain country in the Córdoba, San Luis, Salta and San Juan sierras. The records give no reliable elevations, but these sierras lie at roughly 500 to 2,000 m.

ArgentinaBoliviaParaguayUruguayBrazil (south)

🔒 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-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.