PSJ Plants Weblog

Aechmea kuntzeana is a medium/large upright bromeliad endemic to the moist and dry forests of Bolivia. Named for it’s collector Otto Kuntze, it was described by Carl Mez in 1898.

The clone pictured on the FCBS website appears to have darker purplish leaves than my clones green ones. I was hoping that full sun and neglect would help but I believe mine will stay as green as most of the other images I’ve seen.

The inflorescence is very long lasting, with the seed pod ripening in about 5-6 months after the flower bloom. The fruit does not change color much when ready, but the seed is large and easy to grow.

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Aechmea fuerstenbergii has an outstanding inflorescence consisting of a tight conical spike of white flowers behind rose-red bracts. 

I first saw this in a Cargo Report and immediately wanted one. I mentioned this to Brian Weber as we walked down a main isle of the 2-acre shade house at Tropiflora. He immediately pointed to a smallish untagged potted plant on the floor adjacent to where I was passing. “That’s either it or beeriana.” I was skeptical on the ID but he quoted me a great price. (Did I mention I was cheep?) I guess I should never question Brian’s ability to track and ID a few 10K’s of plants. Great plant – great price – thanks Brian.

The FCBS record has Bahia, Brazil as the point of the type collection, yet it is ranged as an Amazonian epiphyte from Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil.  This plant was first described in the late 1800’s from collected greenhouse material found in Europe. So the Bahia reference seems slim to me. Are there any other accounts of a Bahia collection origin for this plant?

I’ve heard the Streptocalyx genus name referenced in comments that “the taxonomists can not make up their mind”. Streptocalyx was sucked into Aechmea over 14 years ago – Give it up – it is time to change the name on your tags.

Cheers, Greg – PSJPlants – Brevard County, FL (Space Coast)

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Aechmea lueddemanniana is a wide ranging variable bromeliad from Mexico to Costa Rica. This bromeliad grows as an epiphyte or saxicolous. Grows well in strong light, though mine gets a little dappled shade during the summer noon time sun. 

The name spelling gets shortened sometimes to lueddemannia, confusing but in character, as the spelling of the person whom it was named after has more than one version.

This specie clone is a beauty. It is compact at a 2 foot spread,  with stiff reddish foliage and silverish bloom spike. The self setting flowers are lavender, producing a white berry that turns purple when ripe.

The prodigious quantity of self-set berries allows for an other learning and growing opportunity – growing bromeliads from seed.

My normal seed starting technique is the using the lazy method – squeeze the berries onto the surface of some fine moist peat, place in the shade and ignore for 2 months. This seems to weed out all those species that require a minimum of care.

I have used a more successful method – squeeze the berries into a small cup of water that has had a teaspoon of bleach added. Stir and swish to separate all the seed from the pulp. The viable seeds should sink to the bottom while the pulp and non-viable seeds should float. Carefully pour off the chaff – then repeat the process with another rinse to remove any remaining residue. Pour the remaining seeds thru a paper towel and allow to dry for at least 24 hours. 

The seeds may now be scraped into a packet for short term storage. For specie plants I recommend separating out 50% for distribution to the BSI seed fund.

I next sprinkle the seeds on finely ground moist peat in a berry flat and cover, trying to maintain constant moisture and humidity. The berry flats have bottom drainage that also allow for wicking moisture inward if necessary.

This plant seems to work well with both seed start methods being unusually hardy and fast growing from the start. However, for additional and probably more reliable information on seed growing check out the BSI and the BSQ for related articles.

Cheers, Greg PSJPlants – Brevard County, FL (Space Coast)

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