The unusual species - Tillandsia ehlersiana, has a large bulbous base, white lepidote foliage and rose colored spikes.  When allowed to grow in to a large clump it creates a bizarre shaped ball.  This is one of the parents of the natural hybrid, T. 'Lucille'. it makes great hybrids. 

T. ehlersiana is one of those plants that make lots of adventitious offsets before the plant blooms. After blooming it make normal pups. The adventitious are sometimes called hair or sucker pups and tend to grow a lot slower than regular pups. Our Mini size are adventitious offsets. All others are normal pups. None are seedlings so these pups can mature in 3-4 years. 

• Mini 3-4" (adventitious offsets)

• Small 4-5"
• Medium 5" +
• Large 6" + and fat base
• Xtra-Lg  9"+ and fat base

(Mexico)