This article started with Michael Andreas, your Web Master, sending me a photograph of a plant he had under the name of Billbergia nutans var. minima. There is no such official 
variety but it is just a name given by gardeners as is their wont! In Adelaide we call it the Yankee job to differentiate it. This came to us via the Selby Botanical Gardens and has Selby 84-538 on the label. It is the smallest and the prickliest one we grow and could easily have links with Billbergia minuta named by Mez in 1916. This name is now under synonymy under Billbergia nutans.
I must now mention the Pommie job which came as seed from Peter Temple in England. Peter was very strong in the British Bromeliad Society when this was in existence in what I call the Foster era and was co-translater of "Bromeliads in Garden and Glasshouse" 1979, by Werner Rauh. This plant is larger and less spiny than the Yankee job but the flowers are the same AND it sets seed!
The third form is the Aussie job which must have come over with the convicts! You need to hit it hard with a stick to kill it. It is the largest of the trio but has the tendency, now and again, of producing an offset with a Billbergia distachia shape. In line with us colonials it seems to have mixed blood somewhere in its genes but alas it does not set seed.
We seem to be growing the Billbergia nutans var. nutans because the petals always have whiskers (see photo). Just have a closer look next time your Billbergia nutans flowers! If you rub your finger down the petal LIGHTLY (In the Northern Hemisphere you may have to go UP) you will create static electricity and the whiskers will stand out! You will need your bi-focals!
The variety schimperiana (see photo) is much more elusive and I have yet to find it in Australia. Not only does it have this unique petal tipping but it is also supposed to have non-spiny leaves. Have you seen this variety in captivity? Perhaps we could prevail on Ludwig Buckup to find us a close-up photograph.
These photos to the left and right closely resemble variety schimperiana except it has spiny leaves. We are waiting for Ludwig to
come to our rescue with the correct non-spiny leaved one!
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