In 1974, Werner Rauh described the stunning Tillandsia edithiae Rauh (1974: 19), with its bright red inflorescence and fleshy red corolla, from La Paz, Bolivia. The species is quite variable and plants from several populations look different. The most common form has somewhat purplish tinged cinereous leaves and in 1995 we saw steep mountain slopes fully covered with this plant in the province of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, indicating that it is locally very abundant. Near Samaipata we collected a very short leaved and succulent form that unfortunately did not survive. Some populations have somewhat larger plants with leaves about 8 cm long (Fig. 1) and others look similar but with shorter leaves of about 5.5 cm long. In cultivation they can grow to over half a meter in length, developing many offshoots on the old leafless stem. Although beautiful, they do not flower often. In a clump of the several shoots, normally only a few will flower at the same time and some of my clumps have never flowered.

There are also more green forms that do not develop that purplish leaf coloration, even when hanging at the same location (see Fig. 2 also from Samaipata). In fact each population looks slightly...