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’). ‘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.

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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.

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Bold white margins contrast with deep green leaves that blush reddish in strong light. At anthesis the center flushes deep red. Widely popular in landscape use in central and southern Florida.

A medium size grower from Chester Skotak. This one has wide leaves with green edges and cream variegation. The variegation can be wide giving it a medio-picta look. There is a intense veneer of coral red over the leaves. This is a nice clean looking plant.

A neat miniature, stoloniferous, clumping species that matures at less than 6 inches tall. Its gracefully curving, slightly speckled leaves form a bulbous base and a 10 inch flower spike with light red, white tipped bracts. Discovered near Parati in Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil and described in 1980, it is a native of low, wet rainforest where it grows as an epiphyte. An easy to grow yet rare collector item. Superior for terrariums.

*VIPP plants are large Offsets

A medium size hybrid from Chester Skotak maxing out at 18 inches across. As the plant matures it develops a hot magenta pink veneer. With the leaf edges being a cream color, the veneer becomes more intense. This plant looks like it could be the reverse of Neo. Backstabber.

(‘Pink Sensation’ x ‘Royal Burgundy‘) A stunning cross by Grant Groves. Wide leaves in a symmetrical rosette have the pattern of ‘Royal Burgundy’, some speckling and blotching, but the coloration of ‘Pink Sensation‘. Outstanding in every way.

*VIPP plants are Offsets

This stunning large cross of Dyckia platyphylla x ‘Carlsbad‘ has many spiny arching leaves in a rosette to well over 18 inches. One of the most colorful of Dyckia hybrids, it has reddish/brown leaves in full sun or a deep burgundy color in lower light.

A cultivar of Goudaea ospinae v. gruberi, a beautiful Colombian species, with (in our opinion) an unfortunate name choice. A beauty with light green colored leaves that have reduced burgundy colored markings that resemble wet ink that has been smeared. Grows and offsets the same as other ospinae v. gruberi cultivars and has the same inflorescence.

A Jim Irvin hybrid named for a longtime active bromeliad enthusiast of the Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society of Fort Myers, Florida, a cultivar of ‘Icecile’ x ‘Black Mystic,’ has 14+ lanceolate leaves forming a medium-large plant 20″ in diameter with a strong oval form, deep forest green in color with banding the entire length and edge to edge with narrow silver bands set widely apart.  The undersides have heavy silver scurf.

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A Jim Irvin hybrid introduced in 1991 is the prodigy of Cryptanthus ‘Cloudcover’ crossed with Cryptanthus ‘Ocean Mist.’  Owing to its ancestry, this plant has the crisped edges and long graceful leaves fixed in a symmetrical rosette as Cryptanthus zonatus.  The one-inch wide dark brown pink leaves are marked with a cross banding of an undulating flame-stitch pattern of snow-white trichomes.  As the plant matures, it loses its scurfing, darkening to a brown-red as its pink offsets emerge dusted with snow-white trichomes.  The beautiful hybrid matures out to a 6-inch height with a 14-inch diameter.

*VIPP plants are Offsets

A beautiful undescribed species that has been in cultivation for some years with the name fragrans, unofficial but long accepted. Uniformly bronze colored with stiff, arching leaves in a 20 inch rosette, produces a simple spike of yellow fragrant flowers. A stunningly handsome plant. A prolific and easy plant to grow, thriving in full sun.