Check out this teeny tiny baby Tillandsia recurvata (aka Ball Moss) I found on the branch of my tabebuia:
Tillandsias, particularly Tillandsia recurvata, remain somewhat of a mystery to me. Florida has 16 native bromeliads. All 16 are epiphytes, and 12 are in the Tillandsia genus. A lot of them look similar, and I’m by no means an expert, so while this post is mostly about Tillandsia recurvata, that is really just a guess.
I see ball moss all over the place here in South Florida, but it’s always just “hanging out” — I don’t see it doing anything. I rarely see it blooming, and even more rarely do I see it making pups (but they’re so tangled-looking that maybe I wouldn’t notice). What I NEVER see it doing, is germinating fresh seedlings. Clearly they do, because they seem to pop up somewhere new more often than they climb up a branch via pups. So of course it’s happening, but I never see it happen.
I suspect the seedlings are just too small to notice. Or too tucked away in the crevices of tree bark. Only when they’re too big to be considered seedlings are they also big enough for me to notice. But today, for perhaps the first time ever, I stumbled upon a tiny Tillandsia recurvata that is definitely still a seedling. I just thought it was so cute and novel that I had to share!
Here’s another shot:
Maybe I’m off base here and there’s nothing special about seeing one of these little guys. But it definitely gave me a little burst of joy when I saw it. I figured why not share!