Hi everyone,

rednofl - I would say the plant in your picture is a Bromelia, possibly Bromelia balansae or Bromelia pinguin. They have beautiful, eyecatching bracts and flowers but boy oh boy don't they have vicious spikes. They can become very invasive if not container grown as they seem to send out suckers which will appear often some distance from the parent plant

I read somewhere that they are sometimes planted to form an impenetrable hedge to keep cattle from wandering from their paddocks in certain countries.

I'm sure the FCBS will have an extensive Photo Index of both the species and the cultivars and if you have sufficient spare time to wade through all of the photo's you will probably be able to definitely identify it.

All he best, Nev.

Thanks Nev
I thought it was odd there were no pups to be seen just adult plants. I wanted to bring one home and pot it up but they are worse than barbwire. Beautiful flower and I now have the scars to prove I tried..