Six Common Bromeliad Varieties
Author: Celeste Booth13 Comments
Here is a great list of common bromeliad varieties…
Common Name: Earth Star- Scientific Name: Cryptanthus
- Characteristics: The Earth Star Bromeliad grows best under artificial lighting. Flowers appear off-white in color in most varieties.
Common Name: Urn Plant- Scientific Name: Aechmea fasciata
- Characteristics: Foliage is a grayish green color, almost appearing to be covered in chalk. Pink bracts appear from the plants center and produces beautiful purple flowers.
Common Name: Scarlet Star- Scientific Name: Guzmania lingulata
- Characteristics: Foliage is green. This bromeliad variety produces bright red bracts with small white flowers.
Common Name: Flaming Sword- Scientific Name: Vriesea splendens
- Characteristics: Foliage is a brown and green color. A ‘flaming’ red spike comes from the rosette topped with a bright yellow flower.
Common Name: Blushing Bromeliad- Scientific Name: Neoregelia carolinae
- Characteristics: Foliage is green and white striped showing a bright pink coloration near the center for several months.
Common Name: Pink Quill- Scientific Name: Tillandsia cyanea
- Characteristics: Prefers to grow with its roots uncovered or slightly covered with a moss type substance. The only watering this variety needs is a weekly misting. It features hot pink bracts and small purple flowers.
Photo credits
Cryptanthus: Chantal Wagner Kornin via http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanjenchan/4548633827/
Aechmea: Kai Yan, Joseph Wong via http://www.flickr.com/photos/33623636@N08/3889417608/
Guzmania: Mauricio Mercadante via http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercadanteweb/8150555324/
Vriesea: R_A_L via http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordbeavis/6907903365/
Neoregelia: TANAKA Juuyoh via http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanaka_juuyoh/2473446002/
Tillandsia: Jeffdelonge via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bromeliaceae01.jpg
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13 Responses to “Six Common Bromeliad Varieties”
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I think I have a striped blushing bromeliad, since bringing it home I have re potted it. It is in a clay type container, with container potting soil with extra pearlite added to make the soil lighter, not as heavy to smother the roots. The plant had a red flower in the center, the flower has since died. I currently have the plant in the bathroom and open the west facing blinds to give it light. It was looking kinda sick after I bought it, I don’t know if it is the soil, light, or combination. I tried moving it out on the porch, where it got sun in the afternoons. I live in Encinitas CA. The plants leaves are brown and dying at the tips, and the center of the plant is also turning brown, the leaves are not as dark green as they were when I first bought it. Any ideas?
Thank You
Debbie
Debbie, what the people neglected to tell you is that bromeliads die after they flower. Now, this is not a bad thing if you are taking good care of it, and it is the type which throws off babies. I love bromeliads because they give me more plants. My all time high number is 9 babies from one that flowered. That is why it is important to continue to treat it well until you are sure it is completely dead. Don’t over water, but try to make sure their is always water in the bowl, the center of the plant. Don’t be surprised as it dies out from the center, you may even be able to twist the rotted center out and away from the babies. I wait to separate them from the “mother” when they are, in my estimation “teenagers, at least half the height of the mother.Some large, very expensive and showy Bromeliads, have already had the babies taken away and you are essentially buying a plant that is only there to bloom for you once, but don’t give up hope, until you can be certain that there are no babies coming out either inside the lower leaves of the “mother”, or under them. Good luck and please try to buy another bromeliad, only this time, look for signs of more than one life in a pot, or buy one that hasn’t bloomed yet, that way you can be sure there might be more life beyond the bloom. Hope this helps.
@ Debbie – Bromeliads only flower once in their lifetime, so don’t think that the plant is suffering because the flower has died. Make sure that your bromeliad gets good light, but not direct sunlight. Too much sun can stress the plant. Watering is very important, but signs of over-watering are much like the signs of under-watering. The roots should never be in sitting water. Good luck!
I am looking for the name of my bromeliad and have seen its picture among others. My plant is green thick foliage with frosty tops pink bursting long lasting flower a beautiful plant with pups. Never have been taken by such a wonderful house plant. does anyone know how to identify this? I water it once a week through the center cups of the plant and it is in direct sunlight and loving it.
I believe that you have a “AECHMEA” species,there are also 3 similar plants w/different names. The kind you have can get 3 ft in diameter. Some get larger. Good in outdoors, with winter temps of 65. They are beautiful plants. One of the ones we have is easy to care for , planted in old high top work boot,(leather,dosen’t lose dirt),looks nice. Needs air not water to grow, just mist. This species has a center that is green turns pink, flowers purple out of pink, then goes dormant after last purple flower,(turns a tan color, then turns green again). Waiting for it to turn pink and so on again. Good luck with plants.
I have a bromelisd that is exactly like the 5th one from the RIGHT pictured in the header of this website. It has no flower, just beautiful red and green bracts. Please help me identify it. Scientific name and common name please.
thank You
I have a bromeliad like the one 5th from the RIGHT in the header of this website. Please help me identify its scientific and common names. It has no flower, only bracts.
Thanks
how can you tell if thy have flowered if you just got it.
What kind of bromeliad do you have?
I have the pink quill and it is leaves are turning brown. The flower appears to be sprouting. What do I do? is it truly sprouting and do I plant it at a certain point There actually appear to be now three flowers and the biggest has little “sprout” things coming from them.
It’s normal for bromeliad plants to die and for baby plants (called pups) to grow from the mother plant. These will be become your new bromeliad plants. Here’s a post where we wrote more in depth about this topic: https://www.bromeliads.info/beginners-guide-bromeliad-pups/
I am having trouble trying to find what type of Bromeliad I have, someone brought me it as a gift. Trouble is it has no flower but a mini pineapple on it, the plant has produced pups & doing great as since I’ve had it the pineapple has two extra shoots coming out the top! I just can’t find how to care for it. It looks amazing – I wish I could attract a photo
I have one of these plants it bloomed and now it looks like it has hair all over it?