Tillandsia lindeniana (pink quill, "Tachihanaananasu")

Japanese name: タチハナアナナス
Scientific name: Tillandsia lindeniana

[Overview]
An evergreen perennial about 25 cm tall that grows as an epiphyte on trees and similar hosts in tropical rainforests.
It is a stemless species.
20–30 leaves emerge from the base, narrowly triangular to linear, 35 cm long and 1–1.5 cm wide, arching, with pointed tips.
Purplish brown vertical stripes run along the leaf bases.
The leaf bases form sheaths.
A very short flower stalk emerges from among the leaves and bears a spike.
The inflorescence consists of about 40 pale pink to red bracts densely overlapping in a pinnate arrangement, forming a flat oblong shape 16 cm long and 7 cm wide.
The flowers emerge from between the bracts; they are about 5 cm across, deep purple, with 3 petals.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
It has weak cold tolerance, so in winter keep it indoors where the temperature stays at 5–7 degrees or above.
It can be planted in sphagnum moss alone, or attached to a tree fern board or similar.
Give it plenty of sun from autumn to spring, and move it to bright shade in summer.
From spring to autumn, when the planting medium dries, water so that it reaches the base of the plant; if it is attached to a tree fern board, moisten the whole plant with a mister every day.
Keep it on the dry side in winter.
It prefers an environment with high air humidity, so place it where it is not exposed to air from heating or cooling, and water it with a mister.
For potted plants, during the growing season from spring to autumn, apply slow-release fertilizer once every 2 months, or diluted liquid fertilizer once a month.
Pests include aphids, thrips, scale insects and spider mites.

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