Weird Wednesday: Epiphytes Are Awesome

Alert Gardener Jim of South Florida sent me this snippet after he returned from Brazil. He noticed that trees in Sao Paolo were absolutely covered in lichen and epiphytes, and wondered what benefit, if any, there was to the ecosystem as a whole. Anyway, here's the answer:

Epiphyte-Covered Tree in Brazil, JR, 2014

Lichens Provide A Protective Coat   Andrew M. Sugden Science 6/6/14

"Lichens help even out temperatures and moisture levels in foggy deserts, according to a pioneering study of epiphytes: plants that grow on the stems and branches of larger plants. Stanton et al. studied the ecological role of lichens, mosses, and bromeliads inhabiting host trees in fog-fed desert ecosystems in Peru and Chile. They removed epiphytes from the columnar cacti and trees they were growing on and created artificial cacti at the field site, which they covered with collected epiphytes. Epiphytes affected the microclimatic conditions around the host plant: Their presence reduced both the amount of water that reached the ground and the amount that evaporated from the soil. They also buffered daily temperature fluctuations. Epiphytes are abundant in tropical forest ecosystems and they may play a considerable role in cycling water and nutrients."

Funct. Ecol. 10.1111/1365-2435.12249 (2014).

So the take-home is that we can love epiphytes (particularly bromeliads), and feel very righteous in doing so!

FIT Botanical Gardens, MR, 2014

 

Tillandsias: A Favorite

Tillandsias are locals. They grow here in the SE US, and through Central America. A lot of folks think "air plants" don't need any actual care, but in fact, they do need a fair bit of diffused light, and a lot of humidity and water. They just use their leaves instead of their roots to get the water and nutrtion that any plant needs to grow. Many people grow them in beautiful glass orbs to keep the humidity high. I don't mind misting mine morning and evening, so I keep them in homemade ceramic pots, on top of some orchid mix, which is mostly bark and perlite. I give them a good soaking twice a week in a bucket of water with a tad of vinegar and fertilizer added. The Tillandsia in the center of the photo is one of my favorites; it's small and very feathery, fun to hold in my hand. Basically, it's a cutie of the Tillandsia world, and it has a great name, filifolia. Say it ten times fast! Its roomie is a Tillandsia caput medusae (cool name!) which is soft and fuzzy, not monstrous at all. You can look at it straight on, and, unlike Perseus, you won't need a shiny shield to see it.