Identification: received tropical houseplant as gift - don't know how to care for it

Can anyone identify this plant, please? I live in South Florida, and received it as a holiday gift, and want to take good care of it.

Thank you!

 

That's a bromeliad - looks like a Guzmania. Partial shade, water by spraying/misting it when it's dry - I can't tell whether it's in a pot or just sitting in that bag, though. If it's just sitting in the bag, you need to buy it a pot full of bark to live in. Bromeliads are generally epiphytic (they don't require soil), but they do need something to hold the water.

This one, because it's blooming (that's what the lovely orange-yellow spike is about) will die in a couple of months, but it should send up pups before it completely cacks it. They can be kept in the same pot - the mother plant's demise will nourish them.

 

Thank you!

Gotta love the Internet - my question was answered in just four minutes!

 

And from another hemisphere of the world. I love it too!

Best of luck with your bromeliad - they're wonderful pets.

 

And what a nice specimen, too!

Hey, Keith...what IS that intriguing plant visible in the background of your photo....???

 

LOL - that's an artificial plant we bought at an art fair years ago!

Up close it's not very realistic; more like a caricature of a plant, but it's funky looking and it suits our quirky tastes. :)

 

Ha! Here I am, muttering to myself 'Hmm...those leaves look almost paph-like...maybe Ledebouria??? But what about those weird inflorescences?...' Thanks for giving me a hearty laugh!

You DO have a lovely bromeliad, and I think it knows it looks good.
Obviously, you have high-quality friends with excellent taste in gifts!

 

Just a couple of things to remember on your new Bromeliad. A plant only produces one inflorescence. Once the inflorescence dies which may take months the parent plant will also die. That does not mean you should throw out he plant!

In time it will begin to produce new pups around the base of the plant and if grown well they too will eventually produce an inflorescence.

To keep the plant happy keep the cone filled with clean water and keep it in bright light near a window. I grow at least 100 Bromeliad of a variety of species and the ones high in my atrium always produce more colorful inflorescences as well as more new offsets.

In nature these plants normally grow on a tree branch (epiphytically) which is why Lorax recommended using bark as a potting media. The "roots" are not roots at all and instead are known as hold fasts. Their job is simply to hold the plant in place.

 

Thanks, Steve!