i know only a few broms, but i did this as an exercise to show you that you can get a good idea yourself. plus it's fun to look at pics.
you need to install google plug-in for image search. then as you position the cursor on your posted image here (or any image that you see online) and right click on mouse - select
'search .. for this image' - it'll pop a new window. on top next to your thumbprint image type in specific keyword that helps the search. in this case bromeliad flower. it did pull up some but not good enough. so i added brom.. flower blooms. and then i saw it pretty quickly.
double clicking the image pops new window. on the right you'll see button 'visit' page. click on that and you get to see the source. page.
so that's how i found out that this is ...
Aechmea distichantha

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down to see pic'n'post

Your plant is an Aechmea...not sure which one

Here is a link that might be useful: Good picture source

This post was edited by hotdiggetydam on Fri, Jul 25, 14 at 7:09

A. distichantha. Wicked plant with it's needle tips. I once had a clump that was pulled up and discarded keep growing and flowering for 3 years, all the while as it lay on concrete totally ignored. Moisture from the occasional rain shower was all it ever had.

Jana a lot of plants will live happily like that but down the track you will have to divide your plant or put the whole thing into a bigger pot.
I often just cut the mum out after flowering to make a clump of 4 plants but when you think about those 4 plants putting out 4 pups etc, you will have a lot of plants in that pot in a few years.
I also find it harder to see any diseases the plant may get in our climate. I have a billbergia that has completly filled the pot that I will have to divide very soon. Getting too hard to get the old mums out.

Hi everyone

Janartmuse - Whether you decide to divide a plant or allow it to clump is purely a matter of personal choice. I personally think a lot of plants look better when allowed to clump, after all isn't this what they do in habitat?

As for being overcrowded in the pot affecting the health of the plant, I have found that some brom's will grow happily in ridiculously small pots as long as they have good air movement around them and get a bit of water occasionally.

We sometimes lose sight of the fact that a lot of the brom's we grow, still grow on things in habitat such as trees and rocks and that man/woman just put them in pots for our own convenience.

As petrushka says, your plant is Ae. distichantha. It comes in various sizes and colours (See examples on the FCBS Photo Index). Your plant looks to me like Ae distichantha var. distichantha. and others are distichantha v. distichantha f. albiflora (Which as the name suggests is a white form).

There is also distichantha v. glaziovii which is a smaller growing form and only grows to about 12" high as well as distichantha v. schlumbergeri which is different again.

I have three different forms; Ae distichantha var. distichantha, Ae. distichantha v. glaziovii, as well as one called Ae. distichantha intermedia which is midway between the two in size.

All three of these plants produce the same beautiful flowers shown in your picture but unfortunately they all also produce the vicious spikes on the leaf tips with the Ae distichantha var. distichantha producing the most dangerous ones of the lot. (I often have grand children around my garden so I always cut off the very sharp tips to prevent any accidental stabbings. It doesn't affect the plant and unless you were told you wouldn't even notice it.)

They are beautiful plants and well worth growing, just position them where people aren't going to come into contact with their spikes.

All the best, Nev.