unknow bromeliad

can anyone help with this one......it`s a bromeliad , apparently hardysh and drough tolerant.

 

Well before we even get onto an identification i'd advise you whip it out of that pot and stick it in on it's own as those two plants watering conditions are poles apart

as to the ID well it's Bromeliad unless it gets to flowering condition I don't think your get a definitive answer:o

 

the cactus is a frost hardy mammillaria , it was just a cutting that I`m using to taste how much water it will take , so far so good .
unfortunatly is not an Aechmea , I do have Aechmea and they look completly different , it remind me of a pinapple , but the leaves are fairly soft ....plus this plant has really thick roots system my auntie gave it to me , as a succulent plants she had a big bunch ....I was thinking of puya releted but never seen one even if can be an unusual Aechmea. as i remember she told me that had some blue flower .

 

Pete should know how a puya looks like because he showed us a picture with one...

 

Sal, I think you are pushing things a bit to find a "hardy in the UK", mammalaria. but good luck.

 

Not enough spines on the leaves for a Puya or even a Dyckia. Vreisias and Billbergias are not drought tollerant so it counts them out, although being told it is drought tollerant may just mean someone didn't water it much.
Not sure what it is but most Aechmeas and Billbergias have Blue flowers.

 

it looks a lot like my billbergia at work (think they are windii, but might be nutans - can't remember which is which).

two of them are in a display and don't get a lot of water even in the summer - they never flower but other than that seem pretty happy....

 

chan, B Windii has wider leaves than Nutans and the flowers are much bigger,
they should flower every year unless kept in the dark.

 

thanks strongy, it is windii then.

and the display they are in is definitely on the gloomy side - poor things... i thought the dryness and dark might kill them off as i am trying to get rid of them. I had no use for them really and they take up a lot of space, but it just turned them into rather handsome foliage plants

 

Thank you both , another clue is that it suppose to be fairly hardy , as last year in S.Italy they went to -4 , plus must produce lots of pups as she had about 6/8 of them from a single plants .

 

Looking at it again and at my own, it does look like Billbergia Nutans (I only have the variegated type) and they are reasonably hardy although I lost B. Windii outside last winter after a few days at -5c. Given a light position indoors and just damp in winter it should flower.