Hechtia

Mystery hechtia

In a 3 gallon pot has lavender flowers

In a 8 inch pot gets white flowers

I have two hechtia's that look almost alike. One get a little larger and has lavender flowers. The other does not get as big and has white flowers the leaves look the same.

Tropiflora on there web-site said "females have large white flowers and the males have larger, blue-purple flowers". So this may be what I have. But Tropiflora also said " Hechtia tillandsioides One of at least three species of Hechtia from Mexico that are maddeningly similar. With narrow, soft leaves that have tiny marginal spines, almost best describes as serrations, it grows in clumps of several plants with leaves up to 3 feet long, or longer. A mature clump can reach easily 3 feet high and wide. This plant, like other Hechtias, is dioecious and what is more, the male and female plants do not even look as though they are related. Throw in the similar species caerulea and lundelliorum and the whole is a nightmare".

So I for me its still up in the air what one of these plant are. The plant with blue-purple flowers is Hechtia tillandsioides and the other one may or may not be the same but a female Hechtia tillandsioides. Last year they both flowered at the same time and I put the two flowering plant next to each other in hope of getting some seed. Not one seed or any kind of seed pod came from it.

Today (1/6/11) I tock a look at YuccaDo web-site and they have a plant with  lavender-blue flowers  and they call it Hechtia caerulea.

They also have a plant called Hechtia lundelliorum that was previously listed as Hechtia tillandsioides they don't say why the name change.