Guzmania lingulataScarlet Star

Guzmania lingulata is the bromeliad that made the family a fixture of interior planting. A tidy rosette of glossy strap-shaped leaves holds water at its centre, and from that centre rises a head of scarlet bracts that stays coloured for two to four months.

Each rosette flowers once and then produces offsets around its base, so a planted mass renews itself on a rolling cycle rather than going over all at once.

Specifications

• Height0.3 to 0.5 metres
• Width0.3 to 0.5 metres
• Native toCentral and South America and the West Indies
• FoliageGlossy, strap-shaped, arching leaves forming a water-holding rosette; evergreen
• Growth rateModerate

Conditions

• SoilRequires very free-draining, open, bark-based media and will not tolerate heavy wet soil
• LightPartial shade to bright indirect light; direct sun bleaches the leaves
• WaterModerate; keep the central cup filled with clean water
• ClimateThrives in humid tropical conditions and in conditioned interiors

Additional Features

• FlowersSmall white flowers held within a long-lasting head of scarlet bracts
• UsesInterior landscaping, shaded tropical beds, planters, green walls and epiphytic mounting
• SpacingPlant 6 to 9 per square metre for a closed mass
• Low MaintenanceRemove spent rosettes once their offsets have rooted; no feeding is required
• Pest ResistanceGenerally trouble-free, though scale appears in dry interior air
• Seasonal AppealBract colour holds for two to four months per rosette, rotating across a planted mass

The Scarlet Star gives months of colour at ground level in shade, indoors or under canopy, with almost no maintenance behind it.