I have seen miniture Vriesea and Guzmania that were force bloomed when still pup sized,at some nursuries and home merchandise stores,like Home Depot and Lowes.This looks like it might be one of them. I don't know what grower produces them,but they seem to be popular when available.To me,yours looks more like a vriesea than guzmania,and is likely a hybrid of sorts.
Bob

Hmmm... that's disappointing. If this thing is just a pup-sized hybrid of some kind that has been forced into bloom before attaining its full size, could it in turn already have pups of its own? - because it appears to have small offsets. I had hoped this little bromeliad was a mature version of some kind of diminutive species. I guess the only other small bromeliads I have seen are the dense, spiny kind.

This one I bought at a local plant shop called 'Bachman's', in Minnesota. They do have some nice plants among their offerings, but also a lot of overly-commodified stuff that looks good but is just novelty, which maybe I just bought into???

Thanks for the help!

Any other opinions out there?

I agree with Bob that a) it's a Vriesea (don't know which one, sorry), and b) it has likely been forced into bloom. This seems to be fairly common practice, as I found out after buying a few cute little blooming plants, only to have the pups grow to normal size.

There ARE some smaller hybrids, but this one has relatively few leaves, and the overall appearance makes me think it's probably immature. The only way to know for sure is to wait and see what the pups do, and it is not too soon for it to be pupping, as you are seeing. Once the plant blooms, whether or not it was chemically induced, it can't grow any more so it starts working on the next generation.

One more thing: looking at the picture again, I think it is a tissue-cultured plant, rather than a pup. A pup wouldn't have those thin grass-like lower leaves. A seedling would, but wouldn't produce a consistant crop.

They probably produce these babies by the thousand, and then treat them all at the same time. Quick turnover, doesn't take up much space, uniformity and customer appeal..... why not?

Right. Do you mean that it was produced from a cutting?

I have found what I believe to be a miniature,Guzmania "Theresa", at the local WM. I noticed a few other named varieties that I have yet to explore.

According to FCBS, this one was produced by a Dutch grower.

Not a cutting, treehaus, just a few meristem cells in vitro. You can produce thousands of identical plants by micropropagation. You need a lab, so it's not cost-effective for the average small grower, but pretty much all of the big commercial mass-producers (Kent's, DeRoose, etc.) use it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Tissue Culture

Thanks, lisaclv. I guess I was not aware my bromeliad could be the product of micropropagation. Obviously it is more extensive and lucrative than I would have imagined. So, what can I expect of my little freak of plant science? You said before that due to its overall appearance, you think it must be immature, but that was before you determined that it was likely a tissue-cultured plant. All this makes me curious to know more about the tissue-culture of bromeliads, so I thank you for your comments. I suppose I have to wait and see what it will do after it blooms. Thanks again.