Bromeliads ( Bromeliaceae ) are natives of tropical and semitropic areas , but many types thrive in other climates . They add a tropic touch to your home when well cared for . This family include plants that can look very different from one another , but they are all epiphytes . An aerophyte be on another plant for support , such as a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , but it is not parasitic . In addition , bromeliads can develop on soil substratum as well , and they make excellent container plants for the house . Bromeliads produce smaller plant , known as “ pups , ” after they blossom .
A bromeliad must be fledged to start developing pups , which unremarkably pass shortly after the plant blooms . Most bromeliad species get on in one to three years , bet on the change and the plant ’s growing weather , including temperature and humidness . The mother industrial plant can go along producing whelp for several months before it buy the farm , which seem as off - shoots from the Qaeda of the original plant life ’s stem . you’re able to transfer the mature bromeliad or its pups to container or other areas of your garden with little trouble .
Some bromeliads hit over 30 feet grandiloquent when found in their natural habitat . educate species range between 2 to 4 feet tall and spread equally wide . The flower stem sprout from the center of the leaf rosette . Many varieties grow motley leaves with white , yellow or cherry spot or stripe . Different Bromeliad plant varieties include :
Puya Bromeliads
Puya is a very prominent genus of bromeliad , both in turn of species and in size of plant . The genus include the world ’s largest species of bromeliad the Puya ramondii which acquire up to 30 invertebrate foot tall and 9 feet across . There are about 199 specie within the Puya genus . Puyas are sturdy because of where they farm naturally .
ManyPuyashave long , spiked leaves that take form in a orotund , egg - like rosette . Many Puyas resemble yucca , agave and other succulent plants , but they are not relate to one another . Puyasadjust to arid conditions by suspending their ontogenesis while true succulents lay in water in their tissue paper .
Unlike most bromeliads Puyas are tellurian , growing in the background instead of growing as epiphytes in trees . They have ascendent that take up food and water from the dirt as opposed to the zephyr . variety of Puya Bromeliads include :
Hechtia Bromeliads
Hechtia is a genus of plants in the kinsperson Bromeliaceae . The plant are tellurian with characteristic rosette form of most bromeliads . The thick , waxy leaves are steel - similar and shine from a central point in a rosette . Leaf edges may have some serration . The genus comes in a rainbow of colouring material both in foliation and in bloom . Leaves may be tinct with bronze , Au , blood-red , purple , and pink .
Flowers are bear on tumid stalks and are usually white but may be pink or yellow . plant develop slowly but some mannequin may eventually achieve 5 feet in breadth and have a flower stubble of 8 feet in height . Species of Hechtia include :
Aechmea Bromeliads
Most Aechmeas are epiphytic import they mature non - parasitically on another master of ceremonies such as a tree diagram . Some have adapted for growth in moist , shady forests while others prefer more waterless region . Many Aechmeas have sharp spines along the margin or out border of their leaves .
Aechmea broemliads declare oneself a outstanding variety in color , foliage , and growth habits . Aechmea ’s leafage grows without a stem . The farewell grow together forming a little potato material body at the center of the plant . It lead in water through this rosette , which is more commonly referred to as a tank car . The Aechmea ’s ability to store up water in its storage tank to be used as needed help it to survive through periods of sporadic rain . Cultivars of Aechmea include :
Guzmania Bromeliads
Guzmania Bromeliads add significant machination , colour and smasher to your Green Space . They have long , slender evergreen plant leaf that are topped by a single brilliant florescence of tongue - like petals . The efflorescence will be deep reddish , maroon , orange , pink , or yellow , or some combining thence .
The works dies after it has produced its flowers in summer , but new plants can easily be pass around from the showtime which appear as the parent plant dies . They are epipthytes and can do well if tied on to musical composition of bark with rootage throttle into sphagnum moss . Cultivars of Guzmania bromeliads admit :
Neoregelia Bromeliads
mayhap , the showy of bromeliads , their coloured leaves bring on glorious shades when turn up in a vivid weak place . The plant has a respectable rosette of bright green leaves , band in white with a red storage tank . The tank look as though a can of violent blusher was poured over it . Brief blooms are purplish .
Neoregelia , like all bromeliads , spreads by producing offsets or plantlets around the al-Qaeda of ripe plants . After the mature industrial plant has flowered , the female parent plant will step by step die back as the whelp take over . Cultivars of Neoregelia include :
Vriesea Bromeliads
contain some of the largest bromeliad species , these tropical plants hold a wide variety of insect fauna , unlike the smallerCatopsisspecies . In the wild , Gaul may go through their whole life cycle in a bromeliad . This genus is closely touch link to Guzmania . Both Guzmania and Vriesea have ironical ejection seat that split open to expel parachute like source .
MostVrieseaare epiphytes and grow grime - less on tree diagram . they have no roots but have extra clutch fasts that do not take in any nutrients . All nutrients are taken in through the shopping center “ tank ” made by a rosette of leaves .
HybridVrieseas
Tillandsia Bromeliads
Tillandsia , commonly known as air plants are naturally epiphytic atmosphere plants that grow by cling to tree diagram and elicit excess moisture from the air . Once rarefied , tillandsia is now unwashed in garden centers , where they are often sold as part of hanging garden .
Like many other members of the Bromeliad family , the majority of air industrial plant mintage grows in a russet scab fashion . They boast a sort of central “ cup ” that water collects in . Their blooms are ordinarily very colourful , often pink , purple , and lily-livered , and they leave in little seminal fluid parachutes that are of course gestate by the flatus . salmagundi of Tillandsia Cultivars include :
Cryptanthus Bromeliads
Cryptanthus bromeliads , more ordinarily know as solid ground stars due to stem canker - shaped arrangement of the leaves and their low growth habit . Their colour range from dark green to brilliant pink to red , and they can be banded , fleck , satisfying , or virtually any other pattern .
Like most bromeliads , Cryptanthusspecies are mostly grown for their interesting leafage , but they also produce small-scale but beautiful white or pinkish blooms . The plant bloom only once , however , before the plant bring about offsets ( pups ) and then go . The life cyle of these plant is about three years from pup to bloom works . variety and Cultivars of cryptanthus include :
Quesnelia Bromeliads
The genus is named after Gallic businessman and patron of flora Edouard Prosper Quesnel , of Le Havre . Its leaves , lanceolate and light light-green to dark dark-green , grow into a rosette that stay faithful to the primer , reaching a maximal height of 40 cm . The flowers are aggroup in terminal inflorescences , that is , after the wilting of their flower petal , they and the plant that produced them also die , provide only the gull . Its cultivar include :
Ananas or Pineapple Bromeliads
The plant has a short , thick stem with tough , waxy leaves . When creating its fruit , it commonly produces up to 200 flowers , although some tumid - fruited cultivar can outmatch this . Once it blossom , the individual fruit of the flowers join together to create a multiple yield . After the first fruit is produced , side shoot ( called ‘ sucker ’ by commercial growers ) are produced in the leaf axils of the main stem . These suckers may be remove for propagation , or left to grow additional fruits on the original plant . Varieties of Pineapple bromeliad admit :
Hohenbergia Bromeliads
Hohenbergia are beautiful flowering bromeliads with very attractive foliage . They can grow quite large and typically have broad shoulder strap like leaves that are plastered and coriaceous . SomeHohenbergiaremain upright , while others have leaves that bow out at the end . The leaves often come together to imprint a tight little potato anatomy . Hohenbergiausually produce tall flower spike . Their flower spike is what distinguishes them from their confining congener in theAchmeagenus . Varieties of this species let in :
Pitcairnia Bromeliads
Pitcairnia are primarily terrestrial and saxicolous meaning the grow either in the reason or impound to rocks . There are few species that can also be found growing as epiphytes in trees . Pitcairnia are characterized by softer drooping leafage , a few of which have spines , while others are stay on invertebrate . This is opposed to many other genera of bromeliads that have unfaltering parting .
Pitcairnia also often commit up tall , brilliantly coloured flower stalks . The flower stalks unremarkably produce thin tubing shaped flowers that project at correct angle from the stalks . Flower stalks and flowers are typically find in pinks , reds , oranges and on occasion in yellows and whites . Cultivars of Pitcairnia include :
Nidulariums Bromeliads
ordinarily confused with Neoregelia which they resemble , this plant group was first identify in 1854 and named to describe the nestling characteristic of the blossoming . Nidulariums are medium - sized plant life with inflorescences forming low in the center of the rosettes .
At flowering metre the collaret of shortened privileged leaves turns smart as a whip red , rose or cerise , depending on the species . The flowers are red , white or blue and the leaves are ordinarily shiny and finely spin . In some varieties the inflorescence rebel above the works and creates a spectacular word-painting . variety of Nidulariums let in :
Dyckia Bromeliads
Dyckia are bromeliads share that mathematical group ’s characteristic rosette shape . They are not technically succulents , as they do not stack away weewee in their farewell , but they do have similar thick , waxy foliage . The genus is named after the Prussian botanist , botanical artist and horticulturist The Prince and Earl of Salm Reifferscheid - Dyck .
The leave of absence vary from farsighted and strappy to short and scollop . All foliage is fairly fixed and may be smooth or serrated and a solid color or variegated or spot . Long stalks with multiple red , yellow , or orangish flowers appear in spring .
Dyckia growing conditions in their instinctive scene should be mimicked as much as possible . Try develop Dyckia plants outside in summer or yr - one shot in quick regions . Varieties of Dyckia bromeliads include :
Catopsis Bromeliads
Catopsis is a genus of bromeliad whose name number from the Greek word “ katopsis ” meaning prospect . Catopsis bromeliads generally grows on the unshaded twigs of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , and has been shown experimentally to trap more dirt ball in its storage tank than other bromeliads of comparable size .
The leave often coil back and downwards away from the plant . Typically the leaves are spineless and flowers protrude from the center on foresightful stalk . Catopsis is a relatively small genus of bromeliads with only eighteen mintage and a few cultivars , that is :
Billbergia Bromeliads
Billbergia was first key in 1821 by Carl Peter Thunberg , who honoured the late , Gustaf Johan Billberg , a Swedish botanist and attorney in the early 19th - century . Several mintage are grown indoors as decorative plants for their colourful leafage , bloom , or bract ( leaflike clusters beneath the flowers ) . The stiff , bristled , often strap - shaped leaves grow in a rosette , sometimes up to 90 atomic number 96 ( 35 inch ) in diameter , at once from the theme . The flowers are on a spike or panicle ( loose cluster ) growing from the essence of the rosette .
There are several popularBillbergiavarieties . The following is a inclination ofBillbergiavarieties that would be an excellent addition to any bromeliad solicitation :
