This is supposedly a very rare plant. I don;t know if that's true or not. But its one of my favorites that I have. I got it a few years ago and it is pretty large. It made an offset and now has decided to bloom. If I just saw the plant alone with no bloom, I would have never said "aechmea". I might have said "Bromelia" (to me it resembles B. scarlatina but is about 5 times bigger). But the bloom is Aechmea.
It is certainly rare in cultivation even though it's been around for quite a few years now. Perhaps it's stingy with offsets?
Dave C.
I don't know what the reason is. Maybe its confined to one small geographical place or something. Mine has made an offset, I was pretty surprised. They are really large growing, kind of space hogs, but worth it. I was really surprised to see the bloom. About as surprised as I was to see the offset, LOL because I have had the primary plant for over 2 years
