Leatherleaf airplant, photographed at Fern Forest Nature Center, Coconut Creek, Broward County, in May 2014.
There are 16 airplant species native to Florida, 10 of which are stated-list as threatened. Tillandsia variabilis, aka leatherleaf airplant, unfortunately, is one of them.
Leatherleaf airplants are moderately sized as airplants go, smaller than cardinal airplants, a little larger than balbis’s. It has long, tapering leafs that droop over at the tip. It’s an attractive plant, with leaves that are mostly gray-green but can feature some various reds to almost purple.
It’s only found in Florida among the 50 states, and only in the southern end of the Peninsula with Okeechobee County as its northern limits. Its range includes the Keys, but according to the Institute for Regional Conservation, Leatherleaf airplant it has been found only on a single island near Key Largo. The Atlas of Florida Plants includes Palm Beach County in the range, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s PLANTS database does not.
Leatherleaf airplants typically are found in moist, shady places. According to the Flora of North America, it’s usually found singly rather than in clusters.
Like all airplants, it’s an epiphyte, in this case a tank epiphyte. It will set up shop on the bark of a tree, along the trunk or branch, taking the moisture and nutrients it needs to survive from the air or whatever happens to collect among its leaves. That’s where the “tank” part comes into play. It is not parasitic in anyway.
Leatherleaf airplants have short stems and 15 to 20 leaves arranged in ranks. As noted above, they can vary in color, which adds to its attractive appearance. Leaves are six to 10 inches long, tapering to a short point.
Flowers are borne atop a stalk called a scape. Like airplants generally, it’s the bracts, essentially the cover for the flowers, that provide the color — reds, greens, blues and purples. The flowers themselves are numerous — as man as 30 per scape, as few as five, violet, but tiny.
Leatherleaf airplants bloom spring into fall.
Like many of Florida’s bromeliads, the Mexican bromeliad weevil is one of the threats to leatherleaf airplants. The adults aren’t the problem; the larvae are. Female weevils lay eggs on the leaves of the plants; the larvae, as they hatch, burrow into the leaves and eat them from the inside out, ultimately killing their host.
Other threats include disappearing habitat and poaching.
Leatherleaf airplants are also known as soft-leaved wild pine. It is a member of Bromeliaceae.
Fern Forest Nature Center
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