This time of year regular visits to our glasshouse help your mental health. The greeness, the humidity, the earthiness are all very comforting and rejuvenating because it's so alive. Quite a few of these tropical plants flower during our winter season, which is sort of strange if they are generally day-neutral. At any rate, here's a rather nice Friday Fabulous flower, a largish flowered bromeliad (pineapple family) that has been in our collection for decades. It's never been labeled and so TPP simply must make a guess based on some general features that it's Billbergia pyramidalis. The 3-parted corolla always has a bluish tinge to it, which together with the 3 pale pink sepals and all the pink bracts on a fist-sized inflorescence makes for quite a display standing above the vase-like whorl of leaves. The stigma and stamens are exerted from the corolla to make contact with the head of a pollinating hummingbird. Enjoy.
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