Actually, I have had pots of nutans do this - some with long and narrow leaves then all of a sudden one or two big fat tubes. I think nutans is highly unstable.

Thank you purplestar, 'muriel waterman' very much looks like the one, although the photos that I found online weren't as vivid or rich in color, so if not the same one, I know I am on the right track. Thanks paul t23, the camera that took these is a simple Canon Powershot Pro 1. It is basically an 8.0 MP point and shoot, but it has a very versatile lens and 7.0 optical zoom, with a very easy to use macro setting. If you can believe it, this brom looks better in person than on film, the picture just doesn't do it justice. Thanks for looking and more to come!

It's a Neoregelia, can't say exactly which cultivar as there are so many similar-looking ones. It's odd, because Neos don't have a tall spike flower, it's more like a tight pincushion deep in the cup, so they don't "fall off", but looking at your last picture, it sure looks like someone removed it, wonder why? Either that or it's starting to rot out in the center-- I hope not, but the overall appearance and the slight pinkish tinge on the center leaves looks more like a Neo about ready to bloom than one that's already bloomed. Hmmm... I don't like the look of those brownish inner leaves. The soil looks ghastly. Bromeliads do not like hard-packed earth at all, they want something light, porous and well-drained. A good peat/perlite houseplant mix is fine. I'd wash all that hard muck off it with a hose, and put it in some new mix (same size pot) and add a small amount (about 1/4 the label recommendation for houseplants) of slow-release fertilizer. If it has already bloomed, though, it's not going to grow any more or bloom again. Instead, you will have to wait for the pups to mature (I think I see one forming at the base of the plant in your second picture, unless that's just the remains of a leaf-base), at which point you can remove it and pot it up. Keep doing this and the mother plant should give you several new bromeliads before calling it quits. If it is rotting in the center, though, there's not much you can do except toss it. You'll know soon enough. If a handful of inner leaves suddenly comes off in your hand and it smells really disgusting, all you can do is give it a decent burial. Contrary to popular opinion, keeping water in the center cup does not cause a bromeliad to rot. They like water in the cup, but if there has been some damage to the plant, or some toxic chemical has fallen in there, it opens the way for disease to set in. Your pictures make it 100 times easier to answer your questions, but I wish I could poke my finger into the cup, then I could tell you exactly what's going on there.

Try the International Bromeliad Society website gallery for lots of pictures to help identification Post a picture through the OZGallery, it has to be under 61 kb, there are prompts that guide you through the process. Here is a link that might be useful: Brom society