Common name: Neoregelia, Blushing Bromeliad (carolinae), Black-spined Neoregelia (melanodonta), Fingernail Plant (spectabilis)
Family: Bromeliaceae, Bromeliad
Height x width: 12-24" x 12-24"
Growth rate: moderate
Foliage: rosettes of 20-30 strap-shaped leaves, often wider in the center, variable, usually spiny margins, colorful leaf sheaths enclose the flowers and bracts, often striped (longitudinal) or with cross bands
Flowers: compact in the center of leaf rosettes, many crowded long-lasting tubular flowers often blue or white
Light: bright (for best leaf color, often red leaves become green in low light) to low
Temperature: cool to warm
Watering: moderate
Fertility: moderate
Humidity: humid
Soil: epiphytic, terrestrial for ampullacea, spectabilisand often others as well
Pests and Problems: leaf spots, bacterial soft rot (especially if too wet), scale insects, mealybugs
Growth habit, uses: flowering, for humid areas
Other interest: native to Brazilian rain forests; named for 19th century German botanist and botanic garden director E.A. von Regel; similar to Nidularium only this genus has simple (not compound) inflorescences and flowers with pedicels (short-stalked, not sessile)
Other culture: keep rosettes filled with water, relatively easy indoors
Propagation: sow seed with bottom heat, remove offsets
Species, related taxa:
Of the about 70 species, the following and their variants are often
seen, with carolinae most common.
| Species | height | foliage | center leaves | flowers, bracts | habit |
| ampulacea | 16" | red bands | same | blue-white | stoloniferous |
| carolinae | 8-12" | coppery | crimson | blue, red bracts | epiphytic |
| c. 'Meyendorffii' | 8-12" | white margins | crimson | blue, red bracts | epiphytic |
| c. 'Tricolor' | 8-12" | ivory stripes | crimson | blue, red bracts | epiphytic |
| concentrica | 12" | purple tips | same | yellow-purple bracts | epiphytic |
| c. var. plutonis | 12" | flushed red | same | pale lavender | epiphytic |
| eleutheropetala | 24" | red bases | purplish | white, purplish bracts | stoloniferous |
| 'Fireball' | 12" | reddish | same | white | epiphytic |
| 'Marcon' | 12" | red marbled | same | white | epiphytic |
| melanodonta | 12" | red blotches | same | light blue | epiphytic |
| pineliana | 18" | gray scaly | red | blue | epiphytic |
| princeps | 30" | grayish | red | white-red | spreading |
| spectabilis | 18" | red tips, olive | red | blue, purple bracts | terrestrial |
| 'Vulcan' | 12" | blotched red | purplish | white | epiphytic |
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Perennial Pages | PSS121
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