Aechmea mulfordii

(rubra)

Sub-Genus: Platyaechmea

Taxon # 40-50

Aechmea mulfordii (rubra) has excellent reddish-purple foliar coloration with an overall silverish scurfy sheen. Contrasting with this is the orange flowering inflorescence with red primary bracts. This bromeliad requires afternoon summer sun protection. It grows quite happily under my high branched oak canopy with direct sun only in the morning and late afternoon.

Per Derek Butcher's key to a grouping of similar Platyaechmea in the FCBS - "Flowers of the upper portion of the inflorescence densely fascicled, lacking a distinct axis, those of the lower branches in several dense strobili with distinct axes."

This specie is from the Eastern Brazil states of Bahia, and Pernambucana(?), where it grows as a terrestrial. 

Cheers, Greg - PSJPlants - Brevard County, FL (Space Coast)

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