Looks like a Dyckia to me. Go to fcbs.org and look in the Photo links and see if the Dyckia they show are like yours. You can choose both species and hybrids.

Could it also be a hechtia, according to Bancherd, a member of DyckiaBrazil forum?

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Here is the root structure:

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I did look at the fcbs.org, and my closest comparison is to Dyckia waechteri.

Your right they are both green but thats about all it was in common with it. Take a look at hechtia or maybe Orthophytum. There are a few Orthophytum that look like it also. Dyckia waechteri would be a rare find in the USA.

Here is a link that might be useful: Orthophytum

Sometimes when a plant is stressed it makes and ID almost impossible.

Yes, this plant was stressed. I placed in an area where my garden hose doesn't reach, and so I sometimes forget to water it, and the potting soil was poor.

Are all dyckias have similar flowers? Right now, I think this plant is flowering because on its center is something that is growing and the tip are pinkish. I'll take a picture next time. Identifying this bromeliad as a dyckia is getting further away and more like a ornamental pineapple, me thinks.

Hi! I know it is a little late-in-the-game to be answering your post. Sorry---but, I just joined and have been reading through folk's posts.

My vote would be that it is a Hechtia. Without seeing the bloom of the plant, though, it is pretty hard to tell for sure. I have many Bromelia, Puya, Hechtia and Deuterocohnia. Quite a few of them were gifts from friends who picked them up for me from neighbors who were thinning out their landscaping! I usually have to wait 2 to 3 years before they bloom, then photograph them so I can ID them accurately.

It is a lovely looking plant--keep an eye on it, look for the location as to where it eventually pups (off-shooting from higher up the trunk within the rosette is a good identifying marker that it is a Hechtia).

Hope this helps a little, anyways! ;-)

randg: Just read your post about your plant going into bloom.

If it is blooming scarlet with a fuzzy white center. You may have a Bromelia Balansae or Pinguin on your hands. Balansae grows MUCH larger. I have one in bloom right now & its leaves are 4.5' long!!

They are very wicked plants---But that is why I love them! =)

randg did you ever get a bloom photo?