Aechmea chantinii is native to the rainforests of Brazil, Ecuador, and other parts of the Amazon basin. This tropical bromeliad is well-adapted to humid, shaded environments, where it often grows as an epiphyte on tree branches, though it can also thrive in well-drained soil on the forest floor.
The plant produces a tall, brightly colored inflorescence with a dense cluster of red bracts. It has earned the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. There are a few cultivated varieties of this plant, each selected for slight variations in leaf pattern and bract color, enhancing its ornamental value. Photographed in Florida