Loving the Cryptanthus

Cryptanthus falls under the family of bromeliad. Like the fern, it is stemless. With unique colors that come in  bronze, gray, red, brown, green, pink and even black, the frondescence are arranged in a star-like manner that makes the plant more interesting. They seem to have relatively stiff, dry, scaly, tooth-edged, crinkled leafage.

Notice the small Bromeliad Cryptanthus in the huge bowl planted in my dish garden. Since it grows low in the ground, this plant is just enough for a dish garden. I thought it was beautiful not to be noticed along with the other plants grown in the container bowl, I decided to repot it before it started producing offsets.

Cryptanthus,  Dusty Emerald in front of the fountain. I waited for the dark before taking the shot  so one can appreciate the Cryptanthus, beside the Sanseviera (Pagoda) and Juniper.

Look what happened when I transplanted the Cryptanthus....

Cryptanthus Zonatus Rariflora

After four weeks, it produced an offshoot. This made me smile…

C. Rariflora or Dusty Emerald with an offshoot at the base of the main plant

My fascination abound when I learned about Cryptanthus Bivittatus, Pink Starlite. I find the combination of pink and brown vertical stripes on the foliage attractive. Depending on the exposure of the light, I notice the brown changes to green...

C. Bivittatus, Pink Starlite

C. Fosterianus, Melanie has variegated foliage.

C. Fosterianus Melanie with brown, gray and bright red

Notice how it changed its color from red to green...

Up close of the foliage

Similar to the above plant, the C. Fosterianus Shockwave is black instead of red. At first, I thought it looked like the stripes of a zebra. Taking a closer look, it resembles a recorded tracing of an electrocardiograph (ECG) or a PQRST wave. 

C. Fosterianus Shockwave

Close up shot of a leaf

An ECG wave represented by  PQRST.  Source:  En. Wikipedia

I wonder how my ECG tracing would look like if ever my Cryptanthus gives me beautiful, wonderful pups...I am pretty sure my heart would be leaping with joy and excitement at the first glimpse of them...