Tillandsia utriculataL.

spreading airplant

WFO wfo-0000586439 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by Claire Herzog
fig. a Claire Herzog, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-26 / obs. 200804152
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. b Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193390002
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. c Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193386708
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by Tommy Andriollo
fig. d Tommy Andriollo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188204086
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. e Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187925156
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by stinger
fig. f stinger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187937486
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by stinger
fig. g stinger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187937463
Tillandsia utriculata, photographed by stinger
fig. h stinger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187937643

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Tillandsia utriculata is native: Florida, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Windward Is. FloridaMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela BahamasCayman Is.Leeward Is.Netherlands AntillesTurks-Caicos Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Tillandsia utriculata, 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
Cayman Is. CAY
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 21 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.

  • Allardtia potockii Antoine
  • Anoplophytum flexuosum var. pallidum (Lindl.) Beer
  • Platystachys ehrenbergiana K.Koch ex Hemsl.
  • Platystachys ehrenbergii K.Koch
  • Platystachys utriculata (L.) Beer
  • Tillandsia bartramii Nutt.
  • Tillandsia brevibracteata Baker
  • Tillandsia ehrenbergiana Hemsl.
  • Tillandsia ehrenbergii (K.Koch) Klotzsch ex Mez
  • Tillandsia ehrenbergii Klotzsch ex Beer
  • Tillandsia flexuosa var. pallida Lindl.
  • Tillandsia lingulata W.Bartram
  • Tillandsia nuttalliana Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Tillandsia ramosa Sweet
  • Tillandsia ramosa Bello
  • Tillandsia ramosa var. cingstuniensis E.H.L.Krause
  • Tillandsia sintenisii Baker
  • Tillandsia utriculata f. variegata H.Luther
  • Tillandsia utriculata subsp. utriculata
  • Vriesea ramosa Beer
  • Vriesea utriculata (L.) Regel

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.