TITLE: Flowering Aechmea fasciata
DATE: 2021-08-15
AUTHOR: John L. Godlee
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I have an "urn plant", otherwise known as Aechmea fasciata, which
was given to me as a sucker by my Grandmother. It is native to
Brazil and grows as an epiphyte on trees in moist tropical forest.
It's also cultivated as a house plant. Due to its epiphytic habit
it doesn't draw up much water through its roots, instead preferring
to have water poured into the basal rosette. As it grows, juveniles
grow as suckers from the base, which can be snipped off when
they're big enough and grown in a separate pot. I've given away
four or five babies so far, and they are quite popular as gifts.
It doesn't flower very often in my experience, maybe once every 2-3
years, but when it does it looks excellent. The bud emerges from
the centre of the basal rosette and can take a long time to grow to
full size, a few months probably.
The flowers themselves are only quite small. They have a lavender
colour that fades to pink as the flowers wilt. The main showy parts
of the inflorescence are the bracts, I think they're bracts anyway,
which are bright pink and much larger than the flowers.
