Common name: Flaming sword, Flaming Sword Bromeliad
Botanical name: Vriesea splendens Family: Bromeliaceae (pineapple family)
Great looking bromeliad -
to a casual observer, this looks like it could be a desert plant. Green
foliage with prominent dark bands across them, and stunning flowers in the
later summer.
Distinctive is the long flower spike, which emerges from the um-like
centre of the plant when it is
several years old. The basic Flaming sword's flower head is a flattened
“sword” of tightly knit red
bracts from which yellow flowers emerge. Other varieties have flower heads
which are branched and/or
have bracts in lighter shades of red and orange.
The sword shaped bright red inflorescence will develop yellow
tubular flowers
that last only one day each. This is a bromeliad from the moist forests of
southeastern Brazil, and is sensitive to other climatic conditions.
| Photographed at International Flower Expo-2006, Delhi. |
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