Pink Quill Plant named Creation
by J McCombie
Title
Pink Quill Plant named Creation
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Groups: "Whats New", "Vertical Images", and "Best of Botanical Beauty".
The pink quill is a perennial monocot. The mature height of the Tillandsia is 9"-12". Its most striking characteristic is it flower of vibrant blue purple, sprouting from a bract which is an abnormally vibrant color of lush red or a vivid pink. The leaves are thin or thick depending on whether they grow in rainy areas or are subject to drought respectively. The leaves have structures called trichomes used to gather nutrients from the air (dust, decaying leaves and insect matter).
The are several plants from the Tillandsia Genus grown as houseplants. You have the popular gray Air Plants, The Blue Flowered Torch or Pink Quill Plant - Otherwise known as Tillandsia cyanea or Tillandsia lindenii.
Like the Urn Plant, the Pink Quill plant is also a Bromeliad (part of the pineapple family) which is desirable because of the exotic and tropical looking flowering bract that it produces. Lasting up to 3 months they can really add interest to an area much longer than a bunch of flowers could.
There is no repeat flowering with many Bromeliads instead they live on either through the seeds they create (not a viable option for the average owner), or by the offsets the mature plant produces after flowering has finished.
This means the Pink Quill plant is frequently treated as a temporary house guest rather than a permanent resident. That said, the stiff green leaves can have a beauty of their own that some people find attractive.
Like most of the popular Bromeliad houseplants, once flowering is finished the flowering bract of the Pink Quill plant starts to die, followed by the main adult. With its energy exhausted it has once last trick which is to produce several offsets around its base - the next generation.
These offsets or "pups" can be separated from the parent plant if desired and grown on to hopefully flower themselves one day, or you can leave them where they are. In time this will produce an attractive large bush which could have multiple flowering bracts.
Uploaded
December 30th, 2022
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Comments (1)
Nancy Carol Photography
Congratulations .... and thank you for sharing with us your wonderful work of art that has been proudly presented on the Home Page of the group, 'BEST OF BOTANICAL BEAUTY'. If you wish, you may archive it permanently or promote it further in the Discussions Tabs titled, "Oct Nov Dec 2022 Features."