Guzmania lingulata
Common Name(s):
Previously known as:
- Guzmania minor
- Phonetic Spelling
- guz-MAY-nee-uh lin-gyoo-LAY-tuh
- Description
-
Scarlet Star is a tropical epiphytic bromeliad native to rainforest habitats in tropical Americas and the West Indies. It is popular in cultivation and has a basal rosette of green leaves with a flower consisting of red or orange bracts and many small white flowers inside it. Several cultivars are available in other colors. The showy inflorescent can last 2-4 months.
Use a potting soil made for bromeliads or orchids and water sparingly. Keep water in the center cup of the rosette and mist to increase humidity. After flowering, the main plant will decline and die but make off-shoots that can be grown into a new plant.
VIDEO Created by Elisabeth Meyer for "Edibles, Bulbs, and Houseplants" a plant identification course offered in partnership with Longwood Gardens.
- Profile Video:
- See this plant in the following landscape:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
-
- var. minor
Smaller size, only grows to 1 ft tall
- var. minor
- var. minor
- Tags:
- Cultivars / Varieties:
-
- var. minor
Smaller size, only grows to 1 ft tall
- var. minor
- var. minor
- Tags:
-
-
Attributes:
- Genus:
- Guzmania
- Species:
- lingulata
- Family:
- Bromeliaceae
- Life Cycle:
- Perennial
- Country Or Region Of Origin:
- South East Mexico to Tropical America
-
-
Whole Plant Traits:
- Plant Type:
- Epiphyte
- Herbaceous Perennial
- Houseplant
-
-
Flowers:
- Flower Color:
- Red/Burgundy
- White
- Flower Inflorescence:
- Insignificant
- Flower Value To Gardener:
- Showy
- Flower Bloom Time:
- Summer
- Flower Shape:
- Funnel
- Flower Petals:
- Bracts
- Flower Size:
- 3-6 inches
- Flower Description:
- Round flower head with up to 50 white flowers nestled within the red bracts.
-
-
Leaves:
- Leaf Color:
- Green
- Leaf Feel:
- Leathery
- Leaf Value To Gardener:
- Showy
- Leaf Type:
- Simple
- Leaf Arrangement:
- Rosulate
- Leaf Shape:
- Lanceolate
- Leaf Margin:
- Entire
- Hairs Present:
- No
- Leaf Length:
- > 6 inches
- Leaf Description:
- Up to 18-inch leathery leaves are in a basal rosette, overlapping to form a funnel-like central 'vase'. Simple, stiff, strap-shaped, entire, and have a generally unmarked surface with parallel venation. Offsets may form between the base leaves. Color may change towards the center of the funnel.
-
-
Stem:
- Stem Is Aromatic:
- No
-
-
Landscape:
- Landscape Location:
- Houseplants
