First impression, looks like what I knew years ago as Billbergia pyramidalis 'Striata' but not sure if that name is still good... this name was probably wrong all along as the flowers are obviously not the same as B. pyramidalis.
Peyton

I see spines on the leaves so....I would be prone to say it is an Aechmea..without seeing the bloom... several plants it could be,

Impossible to say from the pictures but it could be Aechmea "Mend," which is a popular commercially grown plant.

Thank you. I looked up Aechmea "Mend" and it looks exactly like it. :)

When I saw this I almost mistook it for one of my Ananas lucidus slips. That tight formation and the narrow leaves really don't match up with Aechmea 'Mend', and I'm not finding a 'Mend' with teeth. Going down the Ananas path I found this picture from http://teakdoor.com/farming-and-gardening-in-thailand/14923-thai-flowers-your-pictures-13.html

Similar red blush, variegation, teeth, unfortunately the site has it listed as "Ananas comosus, color variety." There are a lot of Ananas comosus (pineapple) cultivars, 25+ i believe, so maybe a more experienced grower can clarify. It'll be much easier to identify when it blooms.

That would be awesome if it is. Very beautiful plant you have there.

With the absense of a bloom.....I have say it is diffently not a pineapple of any kind, new plants on cosmos mostly form on the fruit not at the base of the plant. It is aechmea. Alvarez and Mend both have spines. Check FCBS.org for your ID's they will be more accurate.

Ah hah, I see now. Sorry, terrible eyes, Aechmea 'Mend' does indeed have teeth, thanks for correcting me. I also misspoke when I referred to slips, I meant suckers, as in the pups coming from the base of the parent and not the fruit. On that note I'd like to point out that I've had very mixed results on the number of slips vs suckers on comosus. When it comes to 'Smooth Cayenne' (supermarket pineapple) I definitely get more slips than suckers, but with the 3 other cultivars I keep I get more suckers than slips!

I'm still a little skeptical, though, based on how tubular and upright the plant looks in the picture. 'Mend' seems like a rather broad-leafed Aechmea. More pictures could certainly help, and it is often the case that the overall plant shape changes significantly as they mature.

This post was edited by naoh123 on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 23:01

Many times I have noticed that commercially raised plants, when they do finally produce pups you will see them with that spindley look. I have experimented with liquid fertilizers and that is the look I got on the pups. The mom plant always looked great but not the pups. Probally because a gap in the feeding program when the commercial grown plants are shipped to the box stores. A good feeding program always produces stronger pups.

I'm still going with my first impression, Billbergia pyramidalis 'Striata' now known as Billbergia 'Foster's Striate'.
The parent to your pup is way too upright for Aechmea 'Mend' but is a good match the Billbergia....

Hi everyone.

I don't grow a lot of Aechmeas as they don't like the cold winters here, but I have to disagree with you rpwalton, I don't think it's Billbergia 'Foster's Striate' (at least not the Billbergia 'Foster's Striate' I grew) as this plant has more pronounced spines on the leaf edges than Billbergia 'Foster's Striate'.

I think it's more likely to be one of the Ae. leuddemanniana hybrids such as Mend or Mend inverta or one of the others listed on the BCR. See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=AECHMEA&id=359#359

All the best, Nev.

I'll put my money on Billbergia when it flowers....
Here's my B. 'Foster's Striate'

Another view...

The resemblance between rpwalton's Billbergia and the plant in question is hard to dismiss. Looking at the teeth again I have to retract my Ananas guess. Every toothed Ananas I've seen has much closer spacing and more pronounced teeth.

I still have doubts about Ae 'Mend', though. I wanted to find a picture of one with the mom and pup; turns out one of the profile at fcbs has one. To my eyes the pups take on that rounded shape from the get go. Looks a lot different than the plant pictured here.

Edit: my mistake, removed image and giving link at fcbs instead.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:490288}}

This post was edited by naoh123 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 21:22

Guys just a reminder....Unless you have written permission photo's from FCBS.org can not be copied..they are protected. Please be polite..the site welcomes anyone to use it for reference free of charge...

Hi everyone.

rpwalton - Looking at the pic's of the "teeth" on your Bill. 'Foster's Striate' has me thinking now that the plant I grew for many years and was named as 'Foster's Striate' may have in fact been something else.

I definitely don't remember any leaf spines as large as yours and the ones that were on my plant were of the soft type as well. .

For that reason I may have been too quick to dismiss your suggested name from the equation while trying to find an ID for the plant belonging to tamela_star.

The main reason I gave up growing this particular plant was that it seemed to attract white scale, and anything I sprayed it with seemed to have no effect, so in the end I "binned it"

All the best, Nev.