Mexico
Chiapas - San Christóbal de Las Casas
The colonial town of San Christóbal is situated at an elevation of 2100 meter in a valley in the hills of highland Chiapas. As in other Mexican towns there is a special market at Christmas time. One of the things to buy there from the Maya Indians, are natural decorations in the form of plants, collected by them in the wild. The most popular bromeliad for this purpose is (or was) Tillandsia eizii with its large (to 2 meter) red-colored pending inflorescence. Added to the use of this plant for decorative and ceremonial purposes is coming the destruction of their habitat and the fact that this species does not reproduce vegetatively, causing a decrease in numbers in the wild.
The conservation association Pronatura in Chiapas is trying to re-introduce plants in a reserve just outside the town (Reserva Ecológica Huitepec) by mounting mature specimens in selected oak trees where they can spread seed on other branches and trunks. This started in 1995 and the photos on this page reflect the results of that. Photographing there is not easy because the plants are high in the trees and the surrounding vegetation is dense. At the entrance of the park some plants are presented, making a closer view possible; at the beginning of december they needed several more weeks to get color and reach anthesis.
There are other species - less threatened in their habitat - used for decoration, such as Tillandsia ponderosa and Tillandsia guatemalensis; the latter one is still widespread in Chiapas and more so in Guatemala. Both are on the pictures presented here, taken at a hotel in the area.
Another endemic to Chiapas is Tillandsia carlsoniae, pictured (below) in front of a house in San Christóbal.
