Dr. Z’s Money Making Scheme - Airplants

     Upon walking around in the Everglades national park, it was common to see many plants and vines hanging in the trees. One plant type that I happened to particularly notice were the airplants. I couldn’t help but think “hey, those are the tiny little plants that I spent $5 each on at Home Depot!” Airplants are sometimes referred to as epiphytes, meaning that they do not require soil to survive and is a word that I remember learning in Tropical Marine Biology Lecture when talking about the smaller plants that live on seagrass blades. Airplants do not even have true plant roots for absorbing nutrients, but instead just holdfasts that are used to stabilize themselves in the trees (kind of like a holdfast on macroalgae). Airplants absorb water and nutrients directly through their leaves. After doing some research, I found that airplants are native to southern United States, Mexico and South America. Airplants are classified as being in the family Bromeliad and the genus Tillandsia. Here is a picture of a cluster of smaller airplants called T. cyanea that I saw while in the Everglades: 

There was one single air plant that I saw in a tree at the Everglades park that was about a foot long! (I wish I got a picture of it) I would say that this larger airplant that I saw was probably a T. ionantha. 

      Because airplants are so low maintenance and aesthetically pleasing, they have become very popular in the past few years around homes. After overhearing me raving about how many airplants I saw in the trees, Dr. Z told me that it is her money making scheme to collect them and bring them back to New Jersey to sell for profit. I thought that this was such a good and funny idea because they are so common in the Everglades and you can literally just pick them off the trees. Pictured below is an example of how airplants are being used all over peoples homes and offices lately: 

Hey, maybe I’ll take up this money making scheme one day if marine biology fails! 

If you’d like to learn more about the different plants that can be found in the Everglades, check out this link: 

https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/plants.htm

If you’d like your own airplant, here are 27 cool ways to display them in your home! 

https://www.shelterness.com/cool-air-plants-displays/