Legend of the Air Carnation: A Traditional Argentine Tale

Tillandsia aeranthos, often called the air carnation, is a bromeliad native to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It grows on trees or rocks without parasitizing them. Here is a traditional tale associated with this air plant.

Legend of the air carnation

In northwestern Argentina, a sorrowful legend is told about an air plant that grows on tree branches and rocky outcrops.
According to the story, during a minga, or communal work gathering, a young Spanish officer fell in love with an Indigenous woman named Shullca. She did not return his feelings. Angered by her rejection, he vowed revenge and one afternoon pursued her into the hills.

Desperate to escape, Shullca climbed to the highest branch of a carob tree, swaying in the wind. The officer urged her to come down and promised not to harm her, but she refused. He then threatened her with a dagger. When neither pleas nor threats worked, he hurled the weapon and fatally wounded her.
Shullca fell from the tree, and, the tale says, the officer fell after her.

A drop of blood stained the tree trunk, and, according to the legend, an air carnation grew there. The writer Joaquín V. González described the flower in lyrical terms as a ray of light shaped like a mystical lily, its delicate petals evoking purity and the spirit of the land. This poetic image belongs to the story, not to the plant’s botanical origin.

Sad story for such a beautiful flower.

If you are interested in knowing the legend of the origin of flowers, we invite you to read the article Legends about the origin of flowers.

If you would like to grow an air plant, provide bright filtered light, good airflow and moisture appropriate to your climate, allowing the plant to dry between waterings. Here are some options.

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