Albertiana

Tillandsia albertiana (ahl-bear-tee-AH-na) was named for the Argentine botanist Alberto Castellanos, by an admiring student who discovered the species. It is a distichous (DISS-tih-cuss) species which means that the thick, succulent leaves normally grow in two dimensions, that is, the plant is flat with the leaves growing in a mirror image of each other. A mature plant is about 5 cm in height. Tillandsia albertiana is one of the very few tillandsias to have a red flower. It normally has just one but what a relatively large flower it is and it can last for a week (Tillandsia flowers normally last for a day).