[Andy]

This is an awesome plant. Definitely one of the 'soft' hechtias (along with caerulea and tillandsioides). When I saw small seedlings from a distance I did think they were tillandsias on the rock wall.

Seedlings:




But then I looked up and saw the big mothers up above. Some looked to be at least 5' long, draping down. Saw colonies down probably under 2000' elevation and up to above 6000'. I'm guessing the hechtias aren't strictly altitude sensitive but rather substrate dependent.











If you get a closer look at them, it looks like they like to grown downward to drape over a little better.





At the lower elevations we even found a clump that was growing as an epiphyte on a tree trunk! The tree had recently fallen over, but it is clear that the clump was growing there for quite a while.