About Tillandsia caput-medusae É.Morren
Tillandsia caput-medusae É.Morren is a species of flowering plant in the bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae), belonging to the subfamily Tillandsioideae. Its common names are octopus plant and medusa's head. It is an epiphyte native to Mexico and Central America, and it is a commonly cultivated bromeliad species. This plant produces thick, channeled, tapering, twisting leaves that grow up to 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) long, and these leaves are covered in fine gray hairs. A rosette of leaves grows from an inflated pseudobulb. Like most Tillandsia species, Tillandsia caput-medusae produces new pups (offsets) after it blooms. When grown in a greenhouse, this species can bloom from spring into early summer. Its red inflorescences are usually unbranched or digitate. The bright violet flowers are roughly 3.2 centimeters (1.3 inches) long, with protruding exerted stamens. Unlike many other bromeliads, Tillandsia caput-medusae does not retain free water between its overlapping leaves, because both the lower (abaxial) and upper (adaxial) leaf bases are covered in trichomes (small hair-like structures). These trichomes function to enhance leaf permeability.
