Tillandsia lajensis

Native from southwestern Colombia to Ecuador, Tillandsia lajensis is an epiphytic bromeliad of wet tropical mountain forest. Arching strap-shaped leaves form a broad rosette around a tall branched inflorescence. Flattened yellow-green flower spikes carry overlapping bracts and small tubular flowers that emerge one at a time. It grows attached to trees in humid Andean vegetation. Photographed in Colombia.