Damn big bromeliad

Bromeliads are members of the pineapple family; here in the tropics many are epiphytes, others are terrestrial. This particular bromeliad (Aechmea magdalenae) is one of the larger terrestrial ones. It has no discernable stem but the leaves can be 2 m tall. Many whorls of such leaves form dense patches, probably a clone, and with the sharp spiny margins on their leaves they make nearly impenetrable thickets. TPP has been walking by this one big patch for years never noticing anything special, but this time there was an inflorescence that couldn't be missed because it was as big as your head and bright red. Amazing since nothing in that patch had ever been seen to flower before. TPP seems to remember someone saying that this bromeliad was used for fiber which would be no surprise because many monocot leaves produce long parallel structural fibers (vascular bundles like Manila hemp from Musa textilis). So this plant could have been moved around with people quite a bit so no idea how "native" this plant is.

Pineapple Fiber

When you say pineapple, everyone thinks of that succulent tropical multiple fruit. But like all monocots, the long narrow leaves of pineapple have parallel vascular bundle fibers that run their length, and unlike the better known coarse structural fibers of Manila hemp from Musa textilis sisal and henequen from species of Agave, pineapple fiber is quite fine for a structural fiber and can be made into very lustrous, light-weight fabric. And of course once you've grown your pineapple fruits, the old leafy stalk gets removed so make way for new shoots, and mostly these get burned. Sounds like a win-win situation, but then again it sounded that way when someone proposed making paper and other fiber products out of corn stalks left after harvesting. Nothing much seems to have happened with regard to that either. The very nice pineapple image (couldn't find mine) was borrowed from here.