Very nice plant patris. I'm taking the long shot here and calling it (maybe) a species of Lindmania. With the brains around here you'll have it ID'd quick.

I'm leaning towards Catopsis, but I can't tell you which one.

Patris,If you could supply another photo when the plant's inflorecence has fully developed,and is actually flowering,we might have a better chance of an ID.
It could be a hybrid too.If you could inquire where it was purchased,you might be able to trace its originating source of supply,and inquire there. Bob

Thanks for trying, looks like the flower will be open soon so will get a photo then.

The little nursery she bought it at did not remember where they got them from!! More of a little roadside set up.

The plant is huge standing about 2 feet tall without the spike. I have several other bromeliads and I think this will be one of my favorites.
Patris

Patris, looking forward to the next photo. Meanwhile,in the book'Bromeliaceaes of Venezuela',there are two pics that look a lot like your plant. Greigia columbiana,and,Bromelia chrysantha,but it would be near impossible that anyone would be selling such genus in the USA. I would think its more likely a hybrid cross of [going way out on a limb here] Tillandsia and Guzmania.

Bob, the leaves do look the same as the Greigia and boy do I wish on the the Bromelia Venezuela'!! I would agree with your hybrid theroy.

I've added a close up of the inflorecence. Very tight and don't have a clue how long it takes one of these to open. Am I looking at a few days, weeks?? Sorry to be such a bother, but love to ask questions from people who have answers! LOL

I have several bromeliads and don't mind learning as much as I can about them.
Thanks for all the help.
Patris

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:488870}}

That's a mighty slim limb you're climbing out on, Bob, are you sure it'll hold your weight? ;-)

I can kind of see where you're coming from on that, but there aren't a lot of Tillandsia-Guzmania crosses out there, in fact I'm not sure if there are any. FCBS doesn't list xGuzlandsia as a category, which doesn't mean it can't be done, just that I wouldn't use the word "likely" in the same sentence.

I do think you're probably in the right branch of the family, though. Both Guzmania and Tillandsia are in the Tillandsioideae. The plant in the picture looks like it has smooth margins, which would effectively eliminate most of the Bromelioideae, including Bromelia and Greigia, which are both quite spiny. Also Greigia flowers are little Neo-like clusters in the leaf axils, very unusual for the family and not at all like the tall spike here.

The jury's still out on Lindmania, at least until the flowers open more. The Pitcairnioideae has both smooth and spiny members of its ranks, but how often do you see a Lindmania or a Brocchinia or a Steyerbromelia for sale? They're pretty rare.

I dunno, it just has a Tillandsioideae look to it to me; either Catopsis, Racinaea or maybe one of the lesser-known Tillandsias. The smooth leaf-margins as well as the size, shape and texture of the bracts so far are all consistant with that. Unfortunately I can't find anything quite like it in any of my books or on FCBS, but then I haven't gone through all of the Tillandsias yet-- I got part way and then the site went down, I must've blown out its little brain cells!

Anyway, congratulations Patris, you have a very unusual plant and we're all dying to see what it looks like when the flowers open! I can't say for sure how long that will take, it all depends on what it is. Kind of a Catch-22 there, but offhand I'd say maybe a couple of weeks.

Okay, the site's back up now and I think I've got it.

What do you think?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:488872}}

Lisa,you may have a winner,and you took the pic right out of my mouse,as I was just going to post it.I too found two photos of it,one in Baensch's Blooming Bromeliads' book,on pg.18. Also found another good photo of it on the cover of the Journal of BSI,Nov.-Dec.,1994,showing Dr.Lyman B.Smith standing by it.Photo attached,hopefully.
But I'm not 100% convinced yet,until I see Patris' plant in full flower.It just seems so unlikely that such rare species plant would be available from a small roadside seller.This is getting interesting ! Bob
[dang it,pic did'nt re-size]
{{gwi:488874}}

That's interesting, Bob, because I wouldn't have made the connection based on either of those 2 photos. I was looking for a narrow leaf that was green on the top and silver-scurfy underneath and neither of those pictures show that. It's just dumb luck that that one FCBS pic was taken of one apparently grown under similar conditions and near enough to the same stage to make the connection. This really emphasizes the importance of having multiple pictures of the same plant under different conditions and at different stages in order to make a good ID. Now, though, I'm wondering if some of the other species that I skipped over because they didn't show what I was looking for might not look like this at some point.

Oh well, I think I'll stick with T. oerstediana for now. If that is correct, then it looks like it will be more than a couple of weeks before the flowers open. The bracts haven't even begun to show that big paddle-like form. Cool plant, and not one I'd expect to find in a little roadside nursery either, but they could have bought them wholesale from someone like Tropiflora.

Well heck now I'm more confused then ever. I was under the impression and I'm sure ya'll will correct me that tillandsia' were much smaller in size then this plant, boy does this girl have lots to learn.

Lisa the photo you posted does have some of the same features, it's just hard for my untrained eye to give a 100% ID from it. Bob sorry, but the same is true of yours.
The leaves are more of a lime green and are about 19 to 20" in length. Tops and edges of leaves are smooth and the bottom side feels a little like velvet and is a shade or two lighter than the top, the base of the plants are around 5 to 6".

Oh yes, surprise! I now have 6 of these and am more than anxious to have a formal name for them.

You folks have been so wonderful to take time and educate me and I really do appreciate it.
Patris

Thats why I'm not convinced as yet,Lisa.I want to see if the branches on Patris'plant form 'paddles',or stay 'tubeular'.[as for example,on Guz.rauhiana,as shown on FCBS] .This one is a challange.
A question for Patris..can the pot or the type of potting soil used be a clue to some professional grower we might be familiar with? Was there any plant tag,even one that said 'bromeliad'?

Nothing Bob, they are in clay pots and regular potting soil.
Patris

Mind if I climb out a little further? My gut feeling is "just say no" to T. oerstediana. The glaucous coating under the leaves is something I've never encountered among the terrestrial Tillandsias. I'm wondering if the FCBS photo is somewhat 'enhanced' in some way. Also the primary bracts on the inflorescence (in patris' plant) don't exhibit the horizontal look of the Smith plant. Patris' plant doesn't seem to have the mass of bracts that the real McCoy has. Never heard of any crosses between Tills and Guzmanias either Bob, although with someone like John Arden...who knows? You watch, this thing'll turn out to be some type of Agave! ;-P

Yeah, I think Patris is just messing with us and it's actually a silk plant. ;-)

Gonzer, maybe you could run a pic over to Pam Koide and see what she says. If anybody would know, she would. In the meantime, I've got nothing, so I fold.

My gut is still saying Tillandsia, but that is relatively uncharted territory for me. They do come in all sizes, though.

patris,Re:'surprise ! ,I now have 6 of these'... Could you clue us in ? This is begining to sound like plants from a mass production line at some nearby grower,rather than one rare Til.oerstediana.How now 6 ?

The seller had 5 more so had to buy them. I'm pretty sure it's not an agave, I have lots of different agave' and I just know this is in the bromeliad side of the family.

The seller bought them from a guy down in Mexico and that is all the info he had for me.

Thanks for the update patris.That was probably a good move on your part to obtain them all. Now if only we could figure out what it is.I can go along with gonzer's observation on the inflorescence bracts,not visable on any of the T.oerstaniana photos. I think thats why I had first thought of a hybrid Guz.xTil. This plant seems to have the features of the two plants,[less the gloucous underleaf]tho I agree,it is a very unlikely cross.And now coming from Mexico,even more doubtful.The photo above of Dr.L.Smith,w/ the T. oestediana,was taken in Costa Rica,so that is likely the area that it is native to. I am now getting the feeling we will not ID this plant[s]. Someone in Mexico does know tho. Do you send one, or a pic.of it, to H. Luther at the Brom. ID Ctr.? Hmmm. Bob

I just sent the pic off to good 'ol Uncle Derek.

Yet further out on the limb.....I was in my yard this afternoon,and noticed, 'gee,my Yucca's kinda look like that pic'. So I looked up 'yucca species' on the internet,and you know,about four of them do resemble the photo,[out of about 100].But they were not in bloom,so it was inconclusive. But many of the species grew in MEXICO....Hmmm. Some have those leaves that shed a little curl off their edges,but some do not.If patris'plants break out into fluffy white flowers,well....[must ban that thought!]
Bob

Bob, your a bit of a comic. Love that sense of humor! I do believe we are covering just about anything even close so we are bound to find the name soon. I am leaning toward the hybrid since no one is familar with this paticular plant.

Who is Uncle Derek and hopefully is he a bromeliad guru?? LOL We may need to call in a plant physic!
Patris

We need to call in the venerable Ms. Cleo (inside joke)

Uncle Derek says it is probably not Lindmania as the growing conditions are not found here. We have to wait for the bloom as he thinks it does resemble a Tillandsia.

Uncle knows best. ;-)

How can a Tillandsia grow in soil. I thought one of the common names was air plant and they did not need soil??

Oh contraire patris, many species of Tillandsias grow terrestrially. In some habitats, there are no trees, cactus, or other suitable anchoring plants to attach to. I'll post some snappies of my in-ground plants tomorrow for your viewing pleasure.

Learning, learning, learning! Looking forward to your photos gonzer.

Patris

Been doing lots of looking and here's one I thought I would like for ya'll to take a look at.

Alcantarea Odorata

Possible??
I'm doing this for practice mostly, let me know if I'm so far off base I've embarrased myself! LOL
Patris

Here is a link that might be useful: Alc. Odorata

You're not embarassing yourself at all, Patris, and I'm glad to see you using the FCBS index. The only thing is it's set up so that you can't post a picture that you've found from the index because the URL doesn't change when you click the thumbnails. Next time, copy the name of the plant you've found, google it and do an image search and you can post that picture because they apparently have a different data base for that. Not sure how that works but I just recently figured that out myself.

Alcantarea odorata is not a bad guess. It is in the right branch of the family and has a lot of similar characteristics. One difference I see, though, is that your plant is glossy green on the upper surface of the leaves and not silver. Also you describe it as feeling kind of velvety. There are different kinds of whitish or silvery coatings and it is hard to distinquish from a picture which one you have, but a fuzzy texture usually indicates well-developed trichomes (leaf scales) and this is very characteristic of a lot of Tillandsias. The silvery-leaved Alcantarea species have more of a glaucous (powdery) coating to them, which would feel smooth, and the leaf would not be thick or succulent. That is true of some Tillandsias too (although not most), and all of the Catopsis, so I have now crossed that genus off my list as well-- also because of the larger size and not finding a good match.

The Alcantarea gets to be 6 or 7 feet tall, I think, so that's bigger than what you've got too, although size can vary. The Alcantareas are a really confusing bunch anyway, at least as far as the names go. There's a lot of them that don't fit neatly into any of the described species. I grew some from seed that my husband collected in Brazil and according to Harry Luther (at the Bromeliad Identification Center) they are all part of a probable "hybrid swarm" and can't be nailed down.

I still think Derek Butcher is right and you have some kind of Tillandsia. Tillandsias comprise the single biggest genus in the family and the variations are endless, so that's not surprising. I'm not sure what Derek's title would be aside from being the official cultivar registrar for the BSI, but "guru" would be a reasonable description. He knows plenty and likes to delve into the minutia of what distinguishes one species from another.

BTW, now that you are becoming more knowledgeable, please do me a favor and erase the phrase "air plant" from your memory bank. Even the smallest most epiphytic Tills need more than just air, so that's really a misnomer. That, and saying "bromel-AID" are big no-nos in my book! ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Alcantarea odorata

Thanks so much Lisa, lots of great info.

There are a lot of growers that need to read this post as they advertise their Tillandsias as air plants! Very easy to confuse or mislead those of us who do not know better.

So....the hunt goes on. I will get a name for these babies yet!!
Patris

Patris,just when you thought we forgot about the ID for your unknown bromeliad[s] in this posting....We're Back!
There are 30 comments so far,and we need to know whats happening with the mystery plant.Did it bloom yet? How about an up to date photo. We are losing sleep over this !
[well,not really] Bob

It's starting to change shape a little! Hopefully we are getting close to the grand event.

{{gwi:488876}}

As soon as it pops the first flower out, post a pic of the whole plant, Patris!

Not to worry Lisa, I've been waiting so long for this one I will take out a full front page picture! LOL