# Air Plants?  How do they produce their chlorophyll?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-plants-how-do-they-produce-their-chlorophyll/212640>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 11, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-plants-how-do-they-produce-their-chlorophyll/212640 "2003-11-11T18:20:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-plants-how-do-they-produce-their-chlorophyll/212640/1 "2003-11-11T18:20:20Z")

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My wife recently bought me a wonderful air plant. It is a very large plant and dark green. Watering instructions are easy, spray it a few times with mist twice a month. Does anyone know how these plants use aeration to sustain themselves? Do they use a type of osmosis to get the water in themselves? How do the make the chlorophyll to make them so green? Very interesting plants!

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-plants-how-do-they-produce-their-chlorophyll/212640/2 "2003-11-11T21:23:01Z")

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Instead of absorbing them from the soil, they absorb water (in the form of vapour) and nutrients (in the form of dust) from the air instead through the surfaces of their leaves (the roots are typically only used for anchoring).

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**Author:** ![That\_Insufferable\_Jerk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/13edae/32.png) [@That\_Insufferable\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Insufferable_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/air-plants-how-do-they-produce-their-chlorophyll/212640/3 "2003-11-11T21:38:07Z")

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If it’s a deep green fringy fern bound with a rubber band at the bottom:  
They aren’t alive, just dip them in water and watch the green dye come off.

If it looks like a spiky pineapple: it’s a bromeliad and you should fertilize it  
(in nature it is saprophytic or parasitic depending on the species)