What are air plants?

Surely you wonder what are the air plants, because in this article we are going to solve your doubts about these "magical" plants that grow without soil. The Tillandsias or also called air carnations or air plants, are plants that live in hot and humid climates, so if we have them in less humid environments like ours, or where temperatures drop a lot in winter, the ideal is to have them indoors and that way we can take care of them perfectly.

They are a very interesting plant species since they grow differently from any other plant we know. The tillandisas do not need land to live. Most of them, in nature, can be found in the tops of the trees since they are mostly epityphal plants. What they are looking for is to be sheltered from the direct sun and have a little more humidity. This does not mean that they are parasitic plants, quite the opposite.



In fact there are also other species of tillandsias that grow fastened on rocks, this other group is called lithophytic plants. Therefore the roots only use them as an anchoring method since they do not absorb nutrients or moisture from the plant that supports it. Simply, they absorb the moisture that forms in the environment through their leaves. In short, they are plants that absorb all the nutrients they need to live through the trichomes of their leaves, only from the air that surrounds them. That's why we call them air plants.

There are hundreds of air plants and multiple varieties.

In terms of color, there are very green and others almost gray. In addition, many of them, despite being green in color, can have different shapes, leaf structures and textures. It is interesting because plants with thinner and greener leaves are more suitable for very humid climates and, on the other hand, others with wider and grayer leaves are typical of drier areas. On the other hand, depending on the tone of the leaves, you will need a different amount of moisture. The greener they are, the more moisture they require. There are varieties with a wide range of colors from bright reds to deep purples.