What's in Your Backyard - Air Plants

Mar 17, 2023

If you Google “Air Plant,” you are more likely to find a link to amazon.com where you can purchase a plant than a definition. A link appears for Air Plant City touting premium varieties sold both wholesale and retail. They have another section for Air Plant accessories such as cork bark and terrariums.

The Air Plant has become the latest “it” thing. Who knew???

An Air Plant is what is known as an epiphyte. Wikipedia explains epiphytes as follows:

“An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively.”

Air Plants belong to the Genus Tillandsia.

“Tillandsia is a genus of around 650 species of evergreen, perennial flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, native to the forests, mountains and deserts of northern Mexico and south-eastern United States, Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to mid Argentina. Their leaves, more or less silvery in color, are covered with specialized cells (trichomes) capable of rapidly absorbing water that gathers on them.^[2]^”

As it turns out, these “shi shi” plants grow wild in Anguilla! They are present around many of our salt ponds. In particular, Cauls Pond has an entire grove of them in every imaginable size and shape.

In my yard, these epiphytes linger on the wilder fringes of the garden and create a distinct ecosystem where they flourish. They attach to trees and rocks in ways that make it look like I designed a landscape feature. It’s no wonder I love these plants. They make me look like a gardener! Nothing could be farther from the truth. As they say - “I have people for that.”

But how does this happen?

The first signs of an Air Plant are babies about the size of your little fingernail. But these don’t exist without a flower stalk. The flower stalk can take months or years to develop on a plant. But when it does appear, it can grow to several feet.

With a relatively wet 2022/23 season, the stalks have appeared early. Their flowers are also opening early (shown in the photograph below). Contained inside each little flower are fine filament-like seeds.

As the pods open, the seeds dry in the sun, and the wind carries them from the stalk to vegetation nearby, where they attach and develop into tiny babies.

Once the seeds disperse, the main plant dies, and its desiccation contributes to the life cycle.

It occurs to me that I have a missed opportunity right in my backyard. At US$35 a pop for a baby online, I might need to think about a new business opportunity. 🤔

No, I’ll just let them do their thing wild and free!

Click on the link below to see the seed dispersal companion reel.