Tillandsia Juncifolia Click thumbnails for full size, scaled to a new window.
Tillandsia Juncifolia Tillandsia juncifolia Regel in Gartenfl. 23: 321, pl.811. 1874
This taxon was treated as a synonym of T. juncea by Mez 1935 and S&D in 1977 but the name persists. This name continues to be used by Guatemalan growers and others in the nursery trade for a small, green form with longish stolons. It could be treated as a form of T. juncea - not a species in its own right, but is best treated as a cultivar ‘Juncifolia’
Vic Przetocki 05/19 as juncea Bronze form
Chris Larson 05/19 inflorescence
Vic Przetocki ... "I got this plant many years ago as Tillandsia juncea (bronze form), can’t recall seeing the flowers on this one. Didn’t develop this summer either, looked like it had aborted." Chris Larson ... "If it has stolons it could be T. Juncifolia." Rob Bower ... "Chris: I have a similar plant and yes with stolons. I have a vague recollection of someone saying it was an ‘Ecuadorian form of juncea’. Whats the story?" Chris Larson ... "T. juncifolia is a synonym for T. juncea & so only exists at cv level at present. T. Juncifolia or T. juncea 'Juncifolia'. Green leaves and redish tinge in high light and pups on stolons - comes in various sizes. I also find it often aborts flowering." Bob Hudson ... "If the T. juncea is a green leaf plant and when grown in good light and direct sunlight the leaves will turn bronze to bright red and if on stolens it will be T. juncifolia." Derek Butcher ... "Ever since 1935 Taxonomists have treated 'Juncifolia' as a synonym of T. juncea which is why we treat it as a cultivar in the BCR. The white petalled form is now called 'Milk Junket' but nobody has bothered to properly name the bronze form. Is it always bronze or is it just growing conditions? If it is not cultural conditions someone might even consider a name such as 'Bronze Junket' and write up a bit of history." John Olsen ... "My bronze forms changed from green when I took them outside." Mark Supple ... "All my T. juncea are named that, anything that was labelled T. juncifolia I changed to T. juncea after I talked to you many years ago after I got the red leaved one from Bob Hudson and flowered it way back in 2009, as all the flowers etc are exactly the same even though the gray and the green are a very long way apart both in miles and climate.
As for the Alba form it’s the same as well and I refuse to use that name given to it." Vic Przetocki ... "The Till. juncea (bronze form) does have stolons and has this nice colour all of the time but is growing in good light. Attached are photos of all forms of juncea that I am growing. I have “Lge Green” after one because that was how I received it. I did get a 'Juncifolia' from Chris but it hasn’t coloured up like the “bronze form”. It was getting bright light during summer but has stayed mostly green, I have now put it with the “bronze form” to see what it does." Chris Larson ... "The other thing I forgot to mention was the shape of the inflo.
Your photos to me show 2 T. Juncifolia and one juncea. This is very distinct in greener and redder forms & smaller & larger forms.
My knowledge of what is T. Juncifolia is solely based on Guatemalan exports under that name. And we know what their use of names are like !
Peter Frank of Tucan Exports once told me that T. Juncifolia comes from near Coban in central Guatemala.
As we have been told here the plants come from other countries, do all green ones have the same inflo?" Vic Przetocki ... "The juncea (Lge Green) does not have stolons which doesn’t fit the description of 'Juncifolia', growth habit is like the grey juncea so never bothered to key this plant out. Can’t remember when I got the (lge green) but it’s going back a long time. I don’t have actual close up photos of the lge green, but have attached blown up images of the original photo for a closer look at the flower spike, quality is not the best. Also attached are photos taken this morning of the plant growing on a tree in the garden with just about every flower spike having seed capsules." Chris Larson ... "Interesting. Some of the Guatemalan forms have very short stolons only visible when separating them. But distinct from the join to the parent of the silver Guatemalan 'T. juncea' as they call it in contrast." Chris Larson ... "I just took this photo the other day. Seeing the plant in the flower made me think …..
There was another difference in what the Guatemalans sell as T. Jucifolia. That is that the bracts are not visible or rarely so. (see image above). Quite a different flower structure to most of the T. juncea on Derek’s Till. disc."
