At first I thought this plant might have been a bromeliad but I’m not so sure about that now. It was another interesting never before seen species of plant to me. What caught my eye was the symmetrical pattern of its leaves, its coloring, and what was going on in the center. It had been sprinkling off and on by the time I was walking on the path that led to this plant. I’m always drawn to water droplets on plants but this one had it’s own little pool. Plus, it had four little flowers opening in the water which reminded me of little birds in a nest chirping to be fed. The purist in me wanted to move that other little plant out of the way to get just the big plant but besides being very against the rules of the park (look, touch gently, don’t destroy) that wouldn’t have been nice to the little plant.
So here it is. Looking at this image again I can almost feel the humidity and warmth of the park and Grand Cayman…which is a stretch considering it’s far from that kind of temperature here now. Anyone know what kind of plant this is? (We have an update! Thanks to my dear friend, David, at Dhphotosite, the plant has a name…Neoregelia hybrid. It is a bromeliad)
Click on image to view larger
Images by T.Dashfield Photography 
No idea … but it sure looks interesting….
Isn’t nature wonderfully amazing! 🙂
No signage to tell you what it is? It’s centre looks like it’s own little garden.
I don’t recall a sign but then again where this was it was pretty thick with plant life so it may have been hidden. It does look like it has it’s own little inner world 🙂
So beautiful! Absolutely amazing!-Ashley
Thanks, Ashley! I so want to go back.
It is indeed a Bromeliad but I wasn’t sure of the species/variety and couldn’t remember either…so I did some snooping It’s a Neoregelia hybred. We used to have these in the greenhouse I worked in a few years ago. I used to bring home all sorts of Bromeliads what S called the “orphans” and nurse them back to health.
Hot diggity dog! Giving you a big gold star and my thanks for identifying this critter 🙂
How nice the little pond in the centre! the other day I watched a great documentary about this place. For if you like, this is the link. Kind regards
Thank you for this video, I love Sir David’s documentaries. If you ever get a chance to visit here you will enjoy it.
I have tried growing bromeliads….but no luck. They always die on me. This one is gorgeous♥
Thanks. Ask David (dhphotosite) about them. I think he has had luck growing them. Indoors I am killer with philodendrons 🙂
Very cool; and it does look like little birds in a nest!
For a plant it is kind of cute 🙂
Great photo of a fascinating plant. In the rain forests, there are species of frogs that live most of their lives in the liquid at the plant’s center. They leave to lay eggs in another plant to create the next generation’s tadpoles. (I don’t know if this was the info in that link; i couldn’t get it to run. if it’s the same, well, never mind.) 🙂
No, no frog eggs in the link but thanks for the info. Now I’m going to have to see what I can find about that.