BY KATARINA KATSMA, ASLA
An obsession with epiphytes leads to an ASLA Student Award.
From the December 2016 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine.
Brandon Cornejo, Student ASLA, wants to use epiphytes?plants that grow on other plants or materials and derive their nutrients from the air?to green the world. His project, ?Feasibility Study of the Integration of Epiphytes in Designed Landscapes,? won the Award of Excellence in Research in the 2016 ASLA Student Awards. It measured whether rabbit?s foot fern (Davallia fejeensis), a type of epiphyte, could grow on building materials typical to the urban environment. With just a few cuttings, Cornejo was able to find that this plant group has the potential to cover much of the city if you turn it loose. Courtesy Brandon Cornejo, Student ASLA.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
You?re currently working at Raymond Jungles, Inc. in Miami. Has your work with epiphytes influenced the work that you?re doing now"
It?s funny because I interviewed and said, ?Oh, I?m part of a bromeliad society.? Bromeliads are a huge group of epiphytes. Right now there?s actually a problem in Miami Beach because of Zika and its relationship with mosquitoes and their relationship with bromeliads. A lot of media in South Florida have incorrectly portrayed bromeliads as breeding grounds for Aedes aegypti. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the two mosquitoes known for spreading Zika. I?m doing research for Raymond to prove that there are...