Nice blooms. I must say I for one am glad that one fell during a storm, when its on the ground it is much easy to see the color of the spike.

Cool. Gotta love seeing Broms in their native surroundings.

Till. Utriculata

I will keep everyone posted when these guys start flowering. I might even have to help them out with pollination. Its hard to believe but these guys are located right on a the busy main street about a block from the ocean. Its like a tropical oasis in the middle of a bunch of buildings. There are also a bunch of terrestrials in the area. Now we have to go to the beach tomorrow so I can take more pictures. Like I need an excuse.

Hi tillandsiakyle, just brilliant to see those big tills in their habitat. I've sort of wondered before why some of them have such tall flower spikes, so looking at those ones sticking up right up through the canopy of the trees is really interesting. Cheers, Paul

Don't worry, you won't need to bother with pollination. Most of the ones, including your Utriculata will produce viable seeds all on their own. It may take upwards of 12 months for the flowers to set, burst and send the seeds airborne.

reference this thread I posted on Native Tillandia's:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bromeliad/msg0318165612814.html?16

Thanks nebu! I missed your post, must have been away on work. I will have do do some scouting for Weavel damage. although I'm not sure if T. Utriculata is at risk. These plants are in the lot of an abandon building, from your experience with UCF do you know anything about listing areas of endangered habitat? I would hate to see this area bulldozed for another high rise condo.

Kyle, I am not sure of the legalities but you should take some specimens to grow at your home, that's what I did.

What the crew from UCF did was to obtain the broms and eventually seeds for future posterity from my backyard. Since the broms, depending on what county and latitude, have subtle nuances in their overall genetics.

Their mission was more urgent, at the time the evil weavel was quickly becoming a major threat to the broms, most notably the Utriculatas, this is predominantly the species that thrives the best.

Do what UCF did, obtain enough specimens for posterity.

Also, development companies have no interest in saving these priceless plants (and animals). Money is a contributing factor in the destruction of these native lands.