Winter, 'Friederike' is actually a spineless cultivar of 'Fascini' = chantinii x fasciata, and is not variegated. There is a variegated form of 'Friederike' as well.

Here are a couple of photos of my variegated form of 'Friederike' in flower.

{{gwi:453824}}

{{gwi:453825}}

Both plain green 'Friederike' and the variegated form have a rather upright shape, with inner higher layers of leaves - if that makes sense?

Neither your variegated (or rather, albo-marginated) aechmea, nor plain green one, have that particular shape - although they could develop that way in brighter light as it matures. I still think both are spineless varieties of fasciata.

What think others?

Cheers,
Kerry

Kerry, I think the form is greatly influenced by growing conditions. Both fasciata and chantinii will grow tight and upright if grown hard, but be much more open and spreading in lower light with heavier feeding.

You are right that Frederike is just a spineless form of Fascini. There are now variegated forms of both Frederike and Fascini, but the originals were not variegated.

Winterlager, your plant could well be Frederike, but until it blooms I wouldn't rule out some other spineless fasciata hybrid like Elaine. There are spineless forms of fasciata too, like Frost and Smoothie, but they tend to have lots of silver on them and are not quite so big.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ae. Frederike

Lisa, I am aware that the form is greatly influenced by growing conditions. However, all specimens I have grown, and seen grown by others, of Fascini and Friederike have that upright, inner-layered look. Mass-produced specimens sold by Olive T. included - and Olive always admits to growing hers 'soft' for faster growth. More shade and feed will change the degree of uprightness, tone, width and length of leaf - of course - but still those hybrids have a distinctive growth habit and shape.

I also grow an albo-marginated form of Fascini (with spines), but was unaware of an albo-marginated form of 'Friederike', only variegated. Is there an albo-marginated form of Friederike available in U.S.? Winterlager's first aechmea in question is albo-marginated.

I agree that the second aechmea in question looks too green, or more, not silvery enough, to be Frost or Smoothie. I am unfamiliar with Elaine, and cannot find a photo on fcbs site. It certainly has many layers of leaves in its rosette - more than usual for fasciata?
Here in Oz, the patented European 'Primera' is ubiquitous and variable. It is sold en masse in chain department stores. I have bought plain blue-green ones without any frosting, as well as silver-banded ones, or slightly frosted ones under that one generic name. Their inflorescences are also variable - some more red than pink, and various degrees of colour lightness/darkness, and form!

Here are pics of three different forms I have grown of the supposed 'Primera' - all spineless.

Primera 1
{{gwi:453826}}

Primera 2
{{gwi:453827}}

Primera 3
{{gwi:453828}}

So, Winterlager, this has probably confused you even more. Your all-green, spineless aechmea is a mystery to me.

Cheers,
Kerry

Kerry, I do appreciate your help. At least now I know what species it is. Given the source, these may not be plants that are in circulation. Basically, they were all rejects or neglects. I still have a few more plants from that road trip that I have no idea on. But, that's half (well, maybe 10%) the fun.

Kerry

As usual very pretty pictures. I so love the way you have them all on trees. Do you fill water in the tank or let mother nature do it?

I have mostly tilly on trees and only a couple of tank type broms on trees due to mosquito management. If I can beat the mosquitoes (and debris from the tree itself) I will put more on the trees especially on the upper parts of the tree.

Anyway always a pleasure to see your garden.

You're welcome, Winterlager. I hope the mystery unravels upon flowering. Let us know if you find out their true identities?

Why thanks, Albatross! Fortunately for me, I live in a fairly high rainfall area, so Mother Nature mostly does the job. I actually haven't hose sprayed my garden for about 11 months! This last spring and summer was relatively mild and wet. In dryer years, I do need to spray hose the epiphytic broms about once or twice a week in the hottest months to keep them looking good - but they will still survive if I don't. Most have acclimatised well to this (lack of) treatment.

I don't find mozzies a big problem, and mostly turn a blind eye to the debris build-up - an occasional clean out, up the ladder, makes a big difference! I'd love to see pics of how your tills in trees are growing. And I'm very pleased if you have been inspired to try more, and up higher. I hope you're good on a ladder.... :)

I have shown these two pics before on last year's Home Extravaganza thread, but I'll show them off again! These are for you, Albatross.

{{gwi:453829}}

{{gwi:453830}}

Cheers,
Kerry

Well, you've got me all confused now, Kerry! Now that you mention it I don't know if there's an albo-marginated form of Frederike or not. And your 3 Primeras appear to be 3 different plants. The second one certainly looks like a fasciata and matches the FCBS photo, but the others look more like hybrids to me. I suspect careless tagging somewhere along the line.

As to the form, check out the picture in the link below. It was listed under Fascini, but since it's spineless, I think it must be Fredericke. Looks quite a bit like Winterlager's plant to me, but while you're at it check out the FCBS photo for Starbrite too. Another possibility.

Sorry, I wrote Elaine but meant Eileen. That one appears to be more silvery-purpley though, so probably not as likely.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:453819}}

Lisa - I've also confused myself! lol
Re the 3 Primeras. Yes, they sure are different to each other. I also agree that the second one looks the most like it. They all had the same mass-produced colour label, with patented copyright clearly stated. My guess is they were all grown from mixed seed, then distributed as the same plant - I think via Corn Bak. I don't know whether they were grown here in Oz - most likely, considering our strict quarantine regulations.

And I forgot about Starbrite - but yes, that's another possible suspect. In fact, I think some sellers on Australian eBay have used that name when selling pups of the ubiquitous Primera - themselves purchased at a supermarket nursery like mine. I have even seen the names Starbrite Pink and Starbrite Red used for selling purposes.
Another possibility for Winterlager's all green plant is Aechmea Inca. There is no parentage shown in the registry, but I think fasciata could be involved. It is also spineless. I have just flowered one myself. It is slightly silvery though. Winterlager's green one is very dark green - assume it has been grown in heavy shade and well-fed.

Re the Frederike link you posted. Maybe it's my poor eyesight, but it does look spiney to me. Maybe they are just pixelations? And O.K. - it doesn't have that inner-leaved layered effect either...:) Head now pulled back in....

Cheers,
Kerry

Kerry, I'm guessing it's either pixelations or just crinkles in the leaf because some of the other margins look pretty smooth to me. I do think I see a few spines on Inca though, LOL!

Oh well....... the bottom line is that a lot of fasciata hybrids look kind of similar, and I'm 99% sure Winterlager's plant is ONE of them (and not a plain fasciata). Of course if it blooms and the flowers look like straight fasciata then I'll eat my words. ;-)

I've got the "plain" green fasciata in the atrium and it should flower this summer. The albo version is out in the wild, under a Bismarkia since it's too rough right now to be a show plant in the atrium. I have what is probably another fasciata hybrid that is a smallish pup right now, but it is even weirder, think Variegated Frederike crossed with Catherine Wilson. The Catherine Wilson look might fade so I don't want to make a big deal out of it yet.

While I wait, I'll enjoy the last of the Winter Lager:

{{gwi:453831}}

Bill. Catherine Wilson or Neo. Catherine Wilson?

And what is that in the pic, some form of chantinii? I've never seen one with markings quite like that.

Lisa, that's the second time you've asked me about 'skeletor'. It's a Chantinii "Dark DeLeon", maybe, but I prefer to call it 'skeletor'.

Neo Catherine Wilson look mixed with variagation. I have no idea what this is:

{{gwi:453832}}

My personal Fasciata favorites are 'Sangria' and 'Morgana'

Yeah, I had a feeling I might have asked about it before, but it's just so eye-catching! I wonder if it would still look that dramatic if it were grown a little harder? Not that you should, just that I generally do.

But speaking of things that SHOULD be grown harder, your last one is a Neo. The marmoration is a dead giveaway. Might be Kahala Dawn or one of Skotak's, but right now it's too stretched out to tell.

This last picture of yours, what about neo First Prize variegata?
This was what a pup looked like when I got it in September last year:
{{gwi:453833}}
And the same one 3 months later after it grew a little and got some sun:
{{gwi:453834}}
Japie

Lisa, I have 4 Dark DeLeon plants. Only the one in the picture has that distracting 'skeletor' look. They were all growing in pretty much the exact same conditions, but that one is slightly different. I think maybe the leaves are a bit narrower.

Japie, thanks for the pictures, there certainly is a resemblance.

After some Florel and several winter months, the inflorescence is starting to show. I even have a pup starting. Florel is good stuff.

{{gwi:453835}}

Well ,the problem with the 'Primera' production as well as ' Fredericka ' and others of this type is that they are mass produced by tissue culture and the problem there is that when the tissue is cloned to much you get aborant forms ,at the nursery end no one cares ,they are plant factories ,nothing else ,the same problem has occured with orchids time and time again ( this was mentioned in a previous posting ) its hard to pick when the plants are small and in their flasks , even in 65 mm pots its hard to pick and its not important if a few appear anyway ( to the producer) and invariably some are worse and the odd plant is better ,cloning is not perfect ,specially if greed sets in , between 500 and 1000 cell divisions from the original meristemic tissue is optimum FOR ANY PLANT , after that troubles occur ,but they keep dividing the tissue ,its cheaper than getting the next bit of tissue from the plant and restarting the whole proccesses ,some plants tolerate it better than others ,Spathiphyllums dont care how many ,Orchids suffer the most , Jack

I never thought this was a tissue cultured plant but it's possible.

Flowers now and I say it's an xNidumea. Probably innocentii x fasciata given the Deleon source. I do like the spineless foliage on this guy so I'll probably keep it.

{{gwi:453836}}

{{gwi:453837}}

Whatever it is, I love that flower!

Here is a sister plant. The foliage on this one is pretty dull and it's obviously not spineless. I won't be keeping it.

{{gwi:453838}}

One more shot of the other xNidumea which I will be keeping.

{{gwi:453839}}