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For the sake of completeness I am including this picture of some Aechmea zebrina seedlings that I was sent by a friend.
I kept them alive for 18 months and they tripled in size, but I wasn't able to keep them through the severe winter of 2010-11.
I didn't see any sign that they were developing the greyish striped leaves of adults. Wikipedia says: "Aechmea zebrina is a plant species in the genus Aechmea. This species is native to Ecuador and Colombia; it is relatively common in the lowland Amazon region of eastern Ecuador and southern Colombia. Aechmea zebrina is a large epiphytic bromeliad that can grow more than 1 metre tall and wide and hold nearly 4 litres of water between its leaves. It typically occurs in the upper canopy of overstory trees at heights of 18–45 m. A single tree can host more than 150 Aechmea zebrina. " Graf says: "zebrina (Colombia), very elagant, urn-shaped rosette dense with stiff, broad leaves rounded at apex, olive green, and covered beneath by cross-bands of white scales, and with thorny margins; branched inflorescence of spreading spikes, subtended by crimson bracts, the flat flowering branches in series of yellow boat-shaped bracts, and with yellow flowers. Unlike chantinii, A. zebrina has sepals covered by the bracts." |
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| 27th June 2010 | ||
