Sure looks a lot like Neo. correia-araujoi. Could be a hybrid, though. Actually correia-araujoi is supposedly a natural hybrid between johannis and marmorata, so it's no wonder some hybrids look a lot like it.

hdd. I went to the fcbs site,and on the menu page,"unknown",the first photo there looks similar to yours. Its'unknown #3,from the collection of Dr.Frank Sherman.
A comment by Derek Butcher,suggests that it is a Neo.hybrid, possibly N.concentrica X N.spectabilis [the red tips]. So its a 'maybe' from the dominent concentrica parentage.
Photo attached.hopefully. Bob

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The only thing is hotdiggety's plant shows some marmoration (green spots on a red background) and unknown #3 doesn't. There are some other differences I see, but that's the main one.

I think Derek's probably got it right on #3. I can see concentrica and spectabilis characteristics there. I'll betcha it colors up in the cup when it blooms, and has blue flowers instead of white, but since they don't show either of those things, that's just sheer gut feeling.

That first one has some johannis blood though, I'd stake my life on it. If it's not actually Neo. x correia-araujoi (I neglected to put the x in before), then it's a very close man-made hybrid of Neo. johannis and some similar marmorated cultivar. There's a picture in Shane Zaghini's first book of something called Neo. 'Nat Buchanan', that looks very close, and I seem to recall a Brazilian cv. on FCBS that was very close, but I don't remember the name.

You can test out my theory if you want. The flowers should be white and if you pollinate it the ovaries will be red.

Right on Lisa. Here's the photo of Neo x correia-araujoi,as shown on fcbs [a thank you to that site],which sure looks like a match to me. Bob

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LOL. Gee Bob...... whydja pick that picture? ;-p

Okay, never mind, you're right, that one does match hotdiggety's best in form, even if the marmoration is a bit stronger. It is somewhat variable though. Mine have wider leaves, but that's just growing conditions.

Everybody here calls it Neo. 'Brazil', but since there's already a cv. named that I've been spelling it 'Brasil' to avoid confusion. Officially, though, neither of those is a registered name, but old habits are hard to break.

Hi Lisa, re: photo, I thought that the few smaller plants around the mostly red large plant [if they are the same neo as x c-a],were a bit closer to the coloration on hdd's plant. I was assuming that they are the pups of the same plant. Maybe not?
But I'm confused that you said the marmoration is
'green spots on a red background', when my eyes see 'red spots on a green background'. Are not all plants green first,then change coloration with maturity and lighting conditions? Help me out here. Bob [always learning]

Nah nah..... I was just teasing you because you didn't post the pic I sent to Uncle Derek, Bob, but the one you picked is a better photo anyway. ;-)

You bring up a good point, though, about marmoration vs. maculation. You're right, some shade of green is generally the underlying color for most of them, and whatever markings are on the leaves would be considered an overlying pigmentation. This is a big subject, and very interesting (to me at least) because different types of markings arise from different layers of leaf tissue, and part of the learning process with hybridizing involves figuring out which types will combine and which won't. I won't get into all that here, but briefly, when I use the words "spots" and "background", I'm more talking about the pattern of pigmentation.

For example, here is a marmorated hybrid:

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And here is a maculated one:

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Both types consist of red (or another color) pigmentation on green leaf tissue, but the pattern of the first one is of green circular spots against red and the second is red spots or blotches against green. It gets harder when the spots or blotches get so big they run together, but there's still a basic pattern there that will tell you lots about the parentage of the plant.

Concentric banding is still another type of marking. That's what you see on the unknown #3 pic. This can occur in conjunction with either of the other two, since it arises from a different cell layer, but it often has an actual textural "feel" to it. Then there's lineation, variegation, etc. etc.

I don't know how to explain it, it's just a matter of training your eye to recognize patterns. To me marmorated and maculated plants are like dogs and cats, but everybody else just sees a fuzzy 4-legged animal, or a red and green brom!

thank you Lisa,for that detailed explanation. Now I get it. These are truly amazing plants. You sure know your stuff,and it is so good of you to take the time to explain so much in your postings. Many would just say,'whata jerk',and go on to something else. One thing I've learned over the years,Brom people are the kind of folks you wish everyone was like. Bob

Bob, I'm just happy that someone is asking those kinds of questions! It's so much more fun to talk about than "how do you start a pineapple top?" I'm sorry, but that one's been asked and answered so many times here that I don't even read them anymore! ;-)

I don't want to hijack anyone's thread (ha ha, too late now!) or be that self-important know-it-all, but I have picked up a lot of little tidbits of information over the years, and what good is that if you can't share it and compare notes?

Lisa, can you tell us the names of the two beautiful hybrids that you used as examples?

bromeliaddict, the first one is one of Sharon Petersen's crosses that I've been trying to get her to name, and the second is one of mine, a Neo. olens cross called 'Big O'.

Lisa, what causes the the tips of the leaves to rolled down like on the photo of that plant?

That's kind of genetic thing, hdd. Certain species have that distinctive leaf shape, but it doesn't always get passed on to the offspring. I find it a highly desireable trait, and the overall form of this one is very nice, so I'm going to keep bugging Sharon until she names it. I guess she had some other cvs. from that cross that she liked better and has named, but I like this one just fine! Its daddy was 'Milagro', and its mommy was something we call "Laura", but don't know the parentage (or the real name) of, so I'm not sure who contributed the upward-turning rolled leaf gene.

I have a plant N. orange crush (Foster M formerly Foster's #88)that has done that thru many generations of pups and I cant find anything about its parentage. Probally to old of plant to locate records or pictures.

How about posting a picture of that one, hdd? the registry doesn't have anything more to say about it either.

BTW, I only just recently discovered the online registry. The last hard copy edition was printed in '98. If you know the name of a plant and want to know the parentage, or want to see every cross made by a particular hybridizer, or using a particular parent, or find every Neo. cv. with the word "purple" in its name, or whatever, you can do it with this database. No pictures, but it can help fill in some of the gaps in info that the FCBS doesn't cover.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bromeliad Cultivar Registry

Yes i use it often. I'll post a pic a bit later but the plant looks like N. orange glow second picture on FCBS site

Are you talking about the one in the link, hdd? I think that's the other 'Orange Crush', the Skotak one. There's two-- one variegated Skotak carolinae type, and then the old Foster hybrid, which I don't think is variegated, although I can't find a description or a picture. Up until about 20 years ago, though, there were only about half a dozen known variegated Neos. That's IT. It wasn't until somebody discovered a few good transmitter parents and then figured out ways to chemically induce variegation that we started seeing all of these variegates that we have now, so I doubt that any of Foster's hybrids were variegated.

The names get confusing because 'Orange Crush', 'Orange Flush' and 'Orange Glow' are all variegated orangey carolinae types, and then there's 'Orange Blush', 'Orange Delight' and several others that aren't variegated.

Anyway...... I see what you mean about the rolled leaves. I don't really like that look when the leaf is pointed straight out like that, but when the tip has kind of a graceful upward curve to it like in Sharon's hybrid I think it's pretty cool. At any rate, I don't think there's anything you can do to change it. If you don't like it, just grow 'Orange Glow' instead!

Here is a link that might be useful: Orange Crush

I have ornage crush by Skotak too and both are variegated plants but as far a pictures it looks like Orange glow on the site ,second lighter picture and I will say the variegation is weaker in the Foster plant buts its there

Okay, that's good to know. I didn't realize any of Foster's hybrids were variegates, but if so, then that makes it even more confusing! Do they both have the same kind of rolled leaves or is it different?

Speaking of rolled leaves, I took this picture about 20 years ago while visiting another bromeliad grower's yard:

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She didn't know the name and I didn't ask for a plant, but afterwards I kind of wished I had because I've never come across it again. Got any idea what it might be? It's a fairly small plant, maybe 8 or 9" across, with not very many leaves, but it was cute.

Usually you see that kind of leaf curvature on some of the big concentrica-type hybrids like 'Takemura Grande' or 'Quintessence', but on a little guy like that I've got no idea where that trait could have come from.

Looks like N. aztec to me but I leave ID's to teh professionals