Chevaliera.
In 1989 Elton Leme on one of his many expeditions into the wilds of Brazil looking for Bromeliads found seed on Aechmea multiflora, A. castanea and A. perforata and collected some. He sent some to me in Australia with the laconic note 'Only for those with large shadehouses'! If you know anything about the subgenus Chevaliera you will realise that we were in for a prickly experience with large plants. The seed was distributed to the keener growers in Australia with the request to let me know when flowering occurred. It was a long wait!
In February, 2004 in Adelaide I was astounded to get a telephone call that one was coming into flower. The call was from Len Cork who was surprised that his plant was doing something after so many years and he had never seen a Bromeliad like it! A white ball had burst through the centre leaves and what he took for scape bracts were a pale brown colour. The ball elongated and a week later blue flowers started to emerge from this cone in sharp contrast to the white. These flowers continued to emerge at regular intervals for weeks and Len was able to take the plant into our Annual Show. Needless to say, it was put in a corner well away from hands and feet of inquisitive on-lookers. We still do not know what triggered the flowering but Len had recently removed the offsets and repotted 'Mother' in well fertilised soil mix. It could even have been the extra hot summer. The flowering plant was some 2 metres in diameter but this is small compared to the size they attain in the wild if we refer to Lyman Smith's description!
