Hi Japie,

I've just been told that it's most likely Aechmea azurea.

Cheers, Andrew.

Japie - I agree with Andrew. My Ae. azurea had those lovely "azure" blue petals as well, and the same size rosette of leaves. It is a lovely species.
What I don't understand is why Peter Franklin's photos on FCBS photo index show what appears to be a white-petaled specimen. I assume the type specimen would have had those startling blue petals, to give its name. Must be another case of the length and shape of those stinkin' peduncles!

BTW - When you mentioned Ae. leodiensis, did you mean weilbachii forma leodiensis? In Australia, that name is often given to a reddish-leaved form of weilbachii - but I think that is incorrect, and is really just the common green form.
Does anyone know what the reddish-leaved form should be called? OR, is it a hybrid of weilbachii? OR, does it depend solely on those pesky peduncles?

K :)

Kerry , the red foliage plant that has an infloresence like weilbachii could be Ae. David Barry .. though I doubt it , as it is crossed with Ae ramosa and gives the cross the form of ramosa which is very different to weilbachii . I grow this cross very hard and find it pretty tough .

Hi Guys

Japie-mine are also flowering! For once I actually knew an Aech name and Andy beat me to it!

I put some blanchettiana yellow pollen onto one of mine...

Well i have to agree that it is Aechmea azurea ,is it possible that Mr Franklin's plant is an Albo Flora form ? this sort of thing comes up in orchids as well ,and can be confusing if not all the plants name is given ,the name would have to refer to the flower colour ,nothing else about the plant is Azure blue , Jack

Thanks to all of you who confirmed the name for me! I must confess, I did scroll through the Aechmeas on FCBS and came accross Ae azurea (very high up in the alphabet!!). But the different coloured flowers confused me. So I decided to ask you.

Kerry, yes, I meant the Ae weilbachii f leodiensis. I also have another plant, a bit bigger than forma leodiensis that tends to have redder leaves - especially when the pups are coming out. But as the plant matures, the leaves revert back to green. The inflo of the plant also looks almost exactly like f leodiensis, except the petals are also red. And the guy from whom I got it, said it is the 'common weilbachii'. I looked in all my picture folders but cannot find a picture of it. Very strange. And it looked really striking when it was in flower - I could see it from my dining table and it lasted for months.

Japie