A giant grower from hybridizer David Fell in Hawaii. This plant is registered as an xVriecantarea but David lists it’s parents as (‘Volcano’s Mist’ x ‘Volcano’s Mist’) and ‘Volcano’s Mist’ is an Alcantarea. So, we are confused, where does the Vriesea come in? We are keeping the xVrecantarea name though as that is how the plant was registered with the BSI Cultivar Registrar. 

It looks like a nice clone of Alcantarea imperialis with a leafy rosette of broad leaves, red with a veneer of silver in older plants. Highly decorative, it is popular with landscapers.

A neat little Skotak hybrid of (carolinae x olens ‘Marie’) x (olens ‘Marie’ x carolinae ‘Shadowlawn’) that forms compact 6 to 8 inch rosettes of light green leaves, variegated nicely with bright white. A cherry red center flush, red tips and a suffusion of tiny red speckles and random blotches make this a very attractive plant.

A cultivar of (Deuterocohnia longipetala ‘Silver’ x Pitcairnia burle-marxii) by Ray Lemieux. Narrow, spiny with soft, rubbery spines, deeply channeled, discolor leaves that are green on top and deep purple below. It has a tall scape with peach colored flowers. As far as we know this is the first of this nothogerera to be produced. The name comes from the fact that the spines are soft despite their appearance. Cultivate as a terrestrial bromeliad, bright shade, even moisture.

A spectacular cultivar of (carolinae x fosteriana) x carcharodon by Chester Skotak. A large growing plant with gracefully arching 3½ inch wide leaves in a 30 inch rosette. The background color is dark brown to almost black, with pink variegation. Numerous red specks are scattered evenly over leaf, and a dusting of silvers trichomes gives the plant a matte finish. Relatively large marginal spines are soft and match the color of the leaf. Color flush at anthesis is minimal, slightly reddish.

One of the most stunningly beautiful of Dyckias with narrow arching silver leaves and massive, soft, comb-like spines in a graceful rosette. Newly published in only 2002, it is a narrow endemic species known from only one site in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grade do Sul where it is native to basaltic rock outcrops in isolated mountainous interior. Our clone came to us from Constantino Gastaldi in adjacent Santa Catarina state, from seed produced in his private collection. Because the seed are from cultivated plants, he admonishes us that it is altogether possible that they are not pure delicata. However, in our seedling crop, all plants are consistent and all “look like” what a Dyckia delicata should look like at this stage.

A Brazilian native with wide, thick, leathery leaves in a 15 inch, recurving rosette. An unusual gray-blue color, speckled with tiny red dots and bearing an interesting, branched, yellow inflorescence produced in winter make this an attractive species. In spite of the gray, thick leaves, it is a shade grower in nature, living on granite rock cliff faces inside the mountainous Tijuca forest of Rio de Janeiro. A slow grower, excellent for terrariums when small.

A beautiful Bob Spivey hybrid made with two of Don Beadle’s better crosses: ‘Caramba’ x ‘Afterglow‘. A deep green plant so thoroughly covered with white mottling that the green is reduced to a thin web, outlining the white blotches. In good light the plant takes on a light pinkish wash.

Extremely attractive with an upright, tubular rosette shape.

An unusual and pretty Brazilian species with a compact, somewhat bulbous base, upright leaves and a lovely red and white spike. This species is stoloniferous and grows well mounted as well as potted. Good in terrariums

An interesting, stiff leaved species with glossy, recurving, coppery-green leaves. The marginal spines are serrate. The inflorescence is quite tall, about 12 inches or more with long, leaf like scape bracts and strobilate branches with pointed bracts and white flowers. A rock dweller native to the caatinga of Bahia, Brazil and this clone was found about 200 km west of Salvador by Berg and Anderson in 2000. Rarely seen species.

This form of Cryptanthus beuckeri is a pattern-less, solid green form.  It otherwise resembles the typical form which has mottled leaves, mainly in having petiolate leaves. A native of Bahia, Brazil.

A handsome smaller growing member of the widely variable Quesnelia genus.  Native to the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil, centered around Rio de Janeiro where it grows as an epiphyte or lithophyte in open forest.  Growing conditions can vary from full sun to deep shade.  A member of the Billbergiopsis subgenus of Quesnelia, a group that includes several other members that might be easily confused with a Billbergia in shape and even inflorescence. 

This species is a tubular plant with few leaves, growing on short, narrow stolons in loose clusters. The foliage is light green, glossy and bears small marginal spines.  The inflorescence is a slender scape about as long as the leaves, with about eight sessile flowers in a loose cluster.  The flowers have bright orange bracts and deep navy blue petals, quite striking. An easy plant to cultivate, good for pot culture or mounting.

This is a very widespread species that can be found from Mexico to Peru and across to Venezuela.  A variable species which commonly grows on cliffs as a terrestrial, but can grow on rocks as a lithophyte, and in trees as an epiphyte.  The plant has two dimorphic leaf forms, one a thin green blade which is deciduous and one which is a short, stiff, spiky leaf which looks more like a large spine.  When the plant goes dormant, the spiky leaves protect the bulbous base of the plant and flowers emerge on a very short scape before the new foliage appears.  Flowers are typically red, occasionally white and sometimes pink.  An easy to grow species that likes abundant moisture when growing, but much less in the dormant season.

This is a 2007 cultivar of ‘Durrell’ x ‘San Juan’ by Steve Hoppin. 

The shape is a loose rosette up to 10 inches tall and 24 inches across with shiny green leaves that are wavy and have serrated edges. The leaves have an olive green color that has a hint of bronze along the edge and slight scurfing on the underside of the leaves.

Both parents of this Ray Lemieux cross of Hechtia lanata x myriantha have some interesting characteristics that should express themselves when the plants grow out. The seed parent, H. lanata, has broad, scurfy, twisting and curling leaves in habitat, which is a tropical desert environment on nutrient poor cliffs.

In cultivation, seedlings of this species tend to have straighter foliage, at least here in sea-level Florida. The pollen parent, H. myriantha, is a giant grower, perhaps the largest of all Hechtia species. Anecdotal stories report that this plant can reach the size of a VW Beetle! The intent of this cross was to produce a large growing hybrid with twisted foliage and silvery scurf. Only time will tell if that will happen.

Note that a photo of the parents in the wild are shown.

A hybrid of (carolinae x Ptd Ldy) x (carolinae x Tak Pri) by RL Frasier. This is a beautiful medium sized plant to about 18 inches across, with fairly wide leaves, boldly albomarginated with yellowish white. The leaves have a leathery texture and blush slightly reddish with a deep red center flush when blooming. Only one clone of this cross exists.

This plant is a bit of a mystery. It was grown from seed collected in Bahia, Brazil by Rick and Carole Richtmyer from a Sincoraea burlemarxii. Other seed germinated and grew into normal looking Sincoraea burlemarxii, but this one was different, leading them to suspect a natural hybrid, perhaps a bigeneric hybrid. Short of a DNA test, there is no good way to know for sure what this plant really is, so they gave it a cultivar name and registered it with the BSI. Something unusual.