Billbergia nutans (Queen's Tears)

Native to southeastern and southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina, this evergreen perennial bromeliad grows on trees or in the ground and reaches about 20 inches tall. Its funnel-shaped rosettes collect water, and slender, arching stems carry pink bracts and hanging green flowers edged in blue or purple. The flowers release visible droplets of sticky nectar, giving the plant its name. Each rosette flowers once and produces offsets that form dense clumps. These can be shared easily, explaining its other name, friendship plant. Photographed in the department of Quindio, Colombia.