Large showy pink bracts subtend the clusters of drooping yellow flowers tipped in turquoise during the winter months in Chicago. The vase forming leaves are grayish-green with black spines along the edge. This bromeliad comes from the American tropics where it thrives in the top of tree canopies deriving nutrition from the leaf litter that blows/falls into the water holding cup. Researchers have found a mini-world of organisms within these vases from frogs on down the bacteria and mosses. The flowers are long and tubular favoring pollination by hummingbirds. The turquoise shiny berries are not often formed in cultivation but are very attractive when they do show up. Definitely a winter houseplant in need of constant warmth, humidity and very bright light.