Nidularium 'Francois Spae' ©
(NID-you-LAIR-ee-um)
by Penrith Goff, S.E.Michigan Bromeliad Society

"Conifer Wildlife Habitat: Arboretum de Concord - Conifers from around the World grown in Michigan"

HABITAT: 
Nearly all nidulariums grow in the rain forests of eastern Brazil close to or on the ground.

CULTURE: 
Similar to neoregelia, which they closely resemble.  Their centers should be kept full of water, even when the plant is blooming. The potting mixture can be watered by letting the centers overflow into it.  Fertilizer should be reduced as the plant matures. Too much nitrogen produces oversized leaves.  Pups are produced from buds at the leaf  axils.  The pups are on stolons which may be very short. Pups should be cut away carefully to ensure that their bases are intact.   

Leaves: few (5-10) to many; edges toothed, in larger species teeth can be vicious, leaf tapers, ending in a sharp point. A few species have rounded tips with a sharp tooth at the end, similar to neoregelia   

Inflorescence: does not rise above the leaves, inflorescence is nestled in the center of the plant; flower buds emerge in the center and between the bracts of the inflorescence. Bracts are pink, red, orange, maroon, sometimes mixed with green and hold their color up to a year after blooming. In N. billbergioides and N. seidelii (among others) the inflorescence is borne on a long stem.

Flowers: Subdivision Nidularium: flowers open only slightly.  In N. burchellii, (subdivision Canistropsis), they open wide).   Flowers have three pointed petals, usually white, may be tinged with lavender, also yellow, red, and blue.  Flowers over a period of weeks