Tillandsia straminea looks like a wallflower among much showier Tillies like T. xerographica, but it has a secret. Its tiny white blooms are wonderfully fragrant. One blossom can fill a small room with a honeyed lilac perfume. The blooms come out one at a time, so the fragrant effect lasts for several weeks. Most Tillandsias are odorless, this is a beautiful exception!
Hi Marla,
ReplyDeleteIs this fragrant tllly available for sale?
Gail
Gail, I bought this particular one from coastaltill1 on ebay. Airplants4U, and Rainforest Flora are also great businesses in my opinion (as a customer). You just have to order your plants when it's neither too hot nor too cold weatherwise. Tillies go into CAM stasis in the mail, so you just soak them in a bucket for about 20 minutes when they arrive, and they'll be fine!
DeleteI really enjoy fragrance on unexpected plants! I don't know the tillandsias very well, but obviously flower fragrance is not one of their primary characteristics. :) Succulents are somewhat similar in that flower fragrance is not common. One of the cacti that I am currently growing is Ferocactus setipinus (formally Hamatocactus setipinus) is flowering now and its flowers has a rather weak, but lovely lemon fragrance. Do you think we will ever have a method of transferring, or reproducing, scents from one location to another? Happy sniffing. :-)
ReplyDeleteBob, it's ironic that when we humans start to tinker with plants to make hybrids, their lovely perfumes are the usually the first things to disappear. Roses, carnations, etc... are prime examples. A couple of my cacti have had beautifully fragrant flowers, so much so, I had to design a perfume in their honor!
ReplyDeleteI will have to pay more attention to my T. straminea... I've had some flowers but the plants are outside and I didn't notice any fragrance. I will get up close and personal when next they flower ☺ One of mine which is also magnificently fragrant for its tiny unobtrusive flowers is T. duratii. I can't wait for the first flowers now that we've moved to the subtropical coast. They always used to get frosted just as the flowers began to open where I used to live. The Lithops seem to be doing just fine so far in the new climate too. Hooray!
ReplyDeleteHi, Paddarotti!
ReplyDeleteI don't know that the fragrance would be noticeable outside, the breeze would carry it away, and the flowers are just tiny (about 4mm!). I'm planning on getting a T. duratii this fall, they're amazing-looking. I've only found about 5 Tillies that have scented flowers, it is most unusual. And I'm glad your Lithops are doing well in their new digs!
Awesome. One thing better than fragrant flowers & that's fragrant flowers from strange plants. "Tillandsia straminea", what great and exotic name for a new perfume.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have a perfume based on this one, Ngeun!
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