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Vriesea ospinae pups? flowers?

17 years ago

I am beginning to see activity from the axils, looks like leaves--but, I'm a neophyte. Help will be appreciated! Pups or flowers originating here?--Stitz

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Comments (6)

LisaCLV
17 years ago
If it's in the axils rather than the center then it's most likely pups, especially if there's more than one. Regular V. ospinae or ospinae v. gruberi? The first one seems to pup much more heavily than the second, at least for me.
bob740
17 years ago
Hi Stitz. I've had both kinds for 6+ years,and they've both flowered from the center,and pupped from leaf axils,and the stems at the base too.For me,the plants had to get fairly large before they bloomed.Nice bright yellow feathers. Bob
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Hi everyone. Junglemel - First of all I'd like to clarify what I said in my initial comment which was, " Your plant looks like Vriesea var. ospinae gruberi". I need to emphasise the "looks like" as there are also many hybrids that have been bred using Vr. ospinae gruberi as a parent, with twelve of them registered on the BCR and probably many more crosses that haven't been registered. (See: http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=Parents&id=9212&search=ospinae) If you consider there can be hundreds or more from each of these crosses, that makes a very wide distribution of similar looking plants, one of which could even be your plant. As I said previously, by Googling "ospinae gruberii images" you will see many "look alikes". Just to take this discussion a little further, I'd like to add a few pictures from a friend's collection to show just how variable the colour of this plant can be. This final picture show what the inflorescence looks like All the best, Nev.
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stitzelweller
Original Author
17 years ago
It's a regular ospinae. I saw two today in the axils without difficulty. I've been growing it in full sun from 0700-1600. The leaves went from light green in spring to more yellow, now. Recently, I noticed more activity in the center but no flowers. I know that flowering affects the life span of the adult. Will only pup production affect the lifespan of the parent plant? Are the gradually cooling temps the trigger here?
bob740
17 years ago
From my own growing experiance,flowering does not quickly shorten the life of the adult in this vriesea,but seems to produce more pups and branching.Some leaves do die out over time,bottom growing ones mostly,but eventually,it does'nt look good,[a lot of stem showing]and then I've removed the offsets and re-potted them. I've even cut the plant in half,and had the top half re-root itself,and have two new plants emerge from the bottom half just below the cut. This guy just seems to survive no matter what. You can end up with quite a few plants in a few years time.New pups likely do not affect the lifespan,as this plant can get fairly large,wide and tall. I don't know if cooler temps have any effect on this vriesea.I've never had mine in the direct sun,only bright light,and shade.I would think the more yellow leaves are due to the sunshine,but that probably favors good growth for you. Just so long as it does not burn the leaves.Perhaps Lisa in Hawaii can add something about her different growing conditions. Hope this helps,Bob
LisaCLV
17 years ago
I've got nothing to add to that. You pretty much said what I was going to say, Bob.
stitzelweller
Original Author
17 years ago
Bob and Lisa,

Thank you very much! You have provided me with really good info. I look forward to many years of continued good growth from this plant and its progeny.--Stitz

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