I sent this photo to the seller where I bought it. She just sold it as Tillandsia ionantha, but when she saw the photo she said it was Tillandsia ionantha "rubra". I looked at that in our database and the bloom doesn't look the same as the one in the database. Maybe someone can take a look?

Good catch! Neither plant pictured in this pic in the 'Rubra' entry look like T. ionantha to me, though I'm new to Tillys in the past few yrs. I'm curious with you!


The foliage on the plant on the left could be but doesn't look pointed enough @ the tips, and the red flower on the one to the R doesn't fit with ionantha. Combining that with how there may be 2 diff plants in that pic, it may serve best in the genus entry for Tillandsia:
Air Plants (Tillandsia)

'Rubra' is a cultivar. If your plant didn't come with a cultivar name attached, going with the plain species entry is the safest thing to do, though this one may be obvious for those who know more about them than me to reach a consensus about attaching 'Rubra' to your plant.

Thanks, I'm guessing it's not a Rubra. It should be fine where it is though, since it is Tillandsia ionantha, right?

I would agree from comparing it to mine, but my opinion doesn't have much behind it on Tillandsias, and IDK if there are similar species that are often mistaken or not. You could also ask in Plant ID forum if you want, and more pairs of eyes would likely see it there, especially those who do most of the ID'ing.

Thanks, Tiffany, good idea.