T. punctulata Schltdl. & Cham.
by Peter Paroz

Tillandsia punctulata is a small green leafed species occurring in cool, shady, moist areas in Central America with collections reported from Costa Rica, Belize ,Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. The numerous offsets grow on short stolons to about 4cm. The plant forms clumps readily and rarely flowers as a single specimen. The flower head is spectacular; a simple or branched, inflated spike, with red primary bracts, secondary bracts green in colour, with purple petals white tipped, the stigma and anthers exerted.

The plant shown was growing in a flat 80 x 300 mm terracotta dish. The ‘growing’ medium was diatomite* granules (ungraded approx 4 to 12 mm). I have experimented with this as a growing medium for a number of bromeliads especially epiphytes where root aeration over an extended time is important. Since the diatomite provides no nutrients (silicon is yet to be proven to be an essential element for bromeliads), I make a regular application at low strength of a liquid fertilizer. The pot is soaked in a bucket to allow absorption by the granules; supplemented by a light spray over the foliage. The fertilizer I am currently using is Phostrogen, 14:4.6:22.5:0.5:1.3 (N. P. K. Ca. Mg); with an occasional boost of the calcium and magnesium content. This latter may well be unnecessary as Brisbane town water regularly has adequate amounts of these elements.

T. punctulata will grow readily in a shade house but if grown too shady, the bract colour may not develop fully. An earlier single flowering in a bush house (50% Sarlon) produced a disappointing show of bract colour; and was castigated by the judge at the BSQ meeting. Despite the collections being recorded from ‘shady’ areas, the plant in the photo has been acclimatised to full sun to maximise bract colour for this clone. This clump has been grown in full sun for the last three years - approx eight hours in summer and five in winter; with bright shade for the remainder of the day.
Photos available on the net show only a little variation in the plant colours at the time of flowering
A hybrid with T. standleyii seems to retain most of the punctulata colour in the flower head. The rachis appears intermediate between the parents and semi recurved. Other plant characteristics were not apparent from the photo.
(* Diatomite is the soft porous rock composed of the silica skeletons of diatoms growing in fresh water lakes millions of years ago)

Shortly after the photos were taken, the plant ‘fell apart’. The old stolons had decayed; the flower heads made the plants top-heavy and a little vibration in transport was the last straw. The centre of the clump showed a lot of decaying leaves indicating that these plants were not drying out between waterings. This is a problem in trying to grow super large specimen clumps. I had the same situation many years ago with a very large clump (40+ inflorescences) of Tillandsia stricta.