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Leatherleaf Airplant

Tillandsia variabilis

Found in epiphytic on trees in cypress swamps and hammocks. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you

23
Good

Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 24%

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Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 11 Florida counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 2

Swamps

Loblolly bay in a coastal swamp
Regional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal swamps, Florida to Virginia; state not identified, a neighboring state.Loblolly bay in a coastal swamp, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal Plain hammocks

Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 84 animals.

All wildlife of Florida

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL

Genus host records with ranges including FL · Tillandsia

  • Dahana atripennisBlack-Winged Dahana
  • Epimorius testaceellusBromeliad Pod Borer Moth
  • Hypercompe scriboniaGiant Leopard Moth, Great Leopard Moth
  • Xylesthia pruniramiellaClemens' Bark Moth, Speckled Xylesthia
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Bromeliaceae

Conservation status

Florida rankS2
Global rankNot available
FL statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source

In your garden

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Sources