Tillandsia cardenasii is a very lovely species with silver leaves, a long flower spike and deep purple/blue flowers, it offsets readily and flowers reliably. Ive grown this for several years and now have a few offsets for sale, very nice little plants.
The specific epithet honours Martin Cárdenas who is considered one of Bolivia's most important botanists. He is from Cochabamba and the son of Indian parents. He travelled throughout Bolivia, mostly at his own expense, collecting plants for his private collection 'Herbarium Cardenasianum'. The type specimen used by Smith to support the species description published in 1935 was collected by Cardenas in 1933.