Tillandsia bulbosaHook.

bulbous airplant

WFO wfo-0000575464 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Kai Squires
fig. a Kai Squires, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203683242
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Guillaume Delaitre
fig. b Guillaume Delaitre, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180818717
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco
fig. c Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179113127
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Annika Lindqvist
fig. d Annika Lindqvist, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178227487
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Annika Lindqvist
fig. e Annika Lindqvist, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178184343
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Sandra Keller
fig. f Sandra Keller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178696915
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Guillaume Delaitre
fig. g Guillaume Delaitre, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 168681767
Tillandsia bulbosa, photographed by Guillaume Delaitre
fig. h Guillaume Delaitre, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166609213

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 27 botanical countries

Regions where Tillandsia bulbosa is native: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Cayman Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. Mexico GulfMexico SoutheastBelizeBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela BahamasCayman Is.Leeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Tillandsia bulbosa, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bahamas BAH SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Gulf MXG NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 10 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Platystachys bulbosa (Hook.) Beer
  • Platystachys erythraea (Lindl. & Paxton) Beer
  • Platystachys erythraea Beer
  • Pourretia hanisiana E.Morren
  • Tillandsia bulbosa f. alba Takiz.
  • Tillandsia bulbosa var. brasiliensis Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Tillandsia bulbosa var. picta Hook.
  • Tillandsia erythraea Lindl. & Paxton
  • Tillandsia pumila Lindl. & Paxton
  • Tillandsia pumila Griseb.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.