Here is a photo of the full plant, which recently put out a new flower stalk. I had not noticed this flower stalk much until yesterday, and at first I thought it was an old stalk, but my brother told me it was new. Then I looked more closely:and saw this black stuff on it. I thought it was soil, but it does not wipe off easily and appears to be cemented on.

How can I remove this without damaging the flowers? Any idea of what it might be?

I can post a photo with a bit more detail, if necessary. I don't remember which bromeliad this is because I repotted it, and it was never ID'ed by the store anyway, but I can usually tell what it was before if I have photos of it in the same pot in bloom, but I do not.

E.T.A.: I found a photo of this plant in its original pot, and it is labeled Vriesea philippo-coburgii, from Rainforest Flora in Torrance. It was not blooming when I bought it, but I knew what kind of flowers it was supposed to make, and so I bought it anyway, even though it was fairly expensive ($65) not to have flowers.

I moved the plant to put a marker on it and found that I had already labeled it when I bought it back in March 2015!