Guzmania

These are tropical plants from Central America to Guiana, Equador, and Bolivia. They grow up to 18 inches tall and have stiff, leathery, sword shaped leaves that grow in the form of a tube close to the ground. They are metallic, bright green striped with brown or white. Compact spikes of yellow, green, purple, scarlet or red bracts are produced and white or yellow flowers grow out from between them. They need a minimum winter temperature of 55 degrees.

Pot Cultivation

They thrive in well-drained pots filled with fibrous peat and turfy loam with an addition of sand in a hothouse. Repotting should be done in March. Water freely during the summer and less often in the winter.

Propagation

Offshoots that are inserted in pots of sand and peat moss in spring and summer are used to increase these plants.

G. Zahnii

VARIETIES

• G. monostachya (tricolor) variegata;
• G. lingulata;
• G. Berteroniana;
• G. musaica;
• G. Zahnii.