It might be an interesting experiment to track that kind of thing, Andy. I've never done so because there isn't really any horticultural value in having extra petals, so it's not a trait that I would attempt to breed for. Most people wouldn't even notice them, especially in a Neo, although the FCBS photo of Neo. Sugar and Spice does focus on the 6-petaled flowers rather than the overall plant, so I guess someone found that to be an important feature.

In the case of S&S, the petals are fully formed and rather attractive, whereas it looks like what you've got there are just some extra odd little appendages. Kind of hard to see in the photo, but I do see that kind of thing from time to time, as well as occasional flowers that have parts in multiples of four: four petals and eight stamens. I just go ahead and use them the same as any other, and I've never seen any of my seedlings come out consistantly producing 4-petaled flowers, but some do seem to do it more often than others, so who knows?

One thing I have noticed is that certain cvs. have stamens with long feathery appendages on the tips of anthers. I have noticed this particularly on crosses made with N. Pepper, and often on other hybrids with some form of ampullacea in the mix. Kind of interesting, but not particularly advantageous, in fact it makes them harder to use as pollen parents because the pollen-bearing part of the anther is usually smaller than normal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Neo. Sugar and Spice - FCBS

Cool info Lisa. After I got mildly amused/excited about the one the other day, today had two more flowers with 6 petals. So far 3 out of the 6 flowers that have opened have had 6 petals. And they are very gooey with lots of nectar (which I must add, tastes quite good). In the fall I had a hoya that had a random 4 petaled flower that I noticed and now my mom is going nuts (wonder where I got it from?) looking for four petaled one on her hoya plants.

Here are today's flowers cropped and some adjusted to help see the form of the petals.

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Hi Andy - some great pics. Interesting little beasties. Cheers, Paul

Okay, I can see it better in those pics, Andy. That is kinda cool, what Neo is that? And how did you manage to taste the nectar from the flower? Do you have a tongue like a chameleon? ;-)

I have no idea what it is, other than obviously being some marmorata hybrid. It was my first brom...from a co-worker and it was unlabeled when he got it from the nursery. I just assume it was what is called 'marmorata' even though it has the blue petals. The species is supposed to have white petals, right?

In the morning I will go get pictures of the whole plant. I have one in nearly full sun afternoon-on that has some great color. Now that I think about it I should check its flowers too.

Oh, and that picture of Sugar and Spice is pretty cool. Mine certainly is not that fancy.

And, the nectar...well, a couple of methods were tried, the tongue worked better than you would expect. Sorry, no photo evidence...

Here are the plants. The flower opening today has 6 petals as well, seems like a trend. The one outside doesn't have any flowers open today, so don't know about that one yet.

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This one was burried under an artichoke outside, but when I finally wiggled into that part of the garden and saw that it was getting ready to bloom I pulled it out and potted it up. Definitely flushing a little bit on the fingernails.
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Hmmm....... not sure what that is. I agree it's definitely a marmorata hybrid but not the true species. Some people will label just about any marmorated Neo "marmorata", so there are a lot of plants floating around with that name on them, but most of them aren't the real deal.

I will admit to the occasional nectar tasting on a tall inflorescence (Aechmea, etc.), but having seen the kind of rich bacterial soup that brom cups can harbor, you would never catch me sticking my tongue down in a Neo! Hope your vaccinations are up to date, Andy. ;-)