Tillandsia macdougallii
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Tillandsia macdougallii

Andrew Flower 05/16
Andrew Flower 01/17
Justin Lee 01/17

Derek Butcher ... "Who is growing this plant in Australia AND New Zealand? I only have a few photos on file and many are seemingly hybrids. Seems like Macdougall liked splashing his pollen around!
I am after photos of this plant in flower. Why? Well there is a new kid on the block called T. tecolometl and I am already having problems in separating it from macdougallii."
Andrew Flower ... "It has a tended to be pretty dominant in hybrids I have made with it - one currently flowering is T. xerographica x stored macdougallii pollen - its like a double-sized macdougallii with a compound inflorecence. My macdougallii plant was originally from Pam Koide."
Justin Lee ... "I live in Romsey in central Victoria and have been playing with Tillandsias since the 80's. I have a question about Tillandsia macdougallii - has anybody ever flowered this species? I've had it for over 30 years and never seen it flower. Without ever flowering it I'm presuming that it is T. macdougallii as that's whats on the label."
Andrew Flower ... "Tillandsia macdougallii plants flower here every year (Wellington, NZ) - and set seed when I cross plants from our two populations that flower 2 months apart (by storing pollen). An old pic of the rare spineless variety is attached for reference.
Your plant looks very stressed, where do you grow it? T. macdougallii should be a quite dense, compact little plant. Initial thoughts for your plant are not enough light, and maybe too cold over winter/spring. They flower here November-January, which would mean they are probably initiating flowering May-July.
Winter temperatures here in un-heated houses go down to zero if there is a frost outside, and normally sit at 3-5C night minimum - I don't trust the high altitude Central American tillandsias out in these unheated houses - they survive, but are pretty reluctant to flower. So the T. macdougallii plants that I want to flower are kept in a twin-skinned tunnel house heated to night minimum 11C, day minimum 16C. Summer maximums in there are mainly 25C., with occasional excursions up to 35C. The T. macdougallii plants I want to flower are hung high up about 1m from the roof, same as T. xerographica, ehlersiana eg., - so they will be getting maximum light. I don't gas them to make them flower."


Updated 19/03/17