I would like to thank WW for this beautiful bromeliad. It takes a long time to flower but it's worth the wait....

Wow!  I need to pull mine out of the deep shade!  

A variegated cultivated variety is available.  It's from the Nicaragua-Costa Rica Caribbean coastal rain forest.  

I put them (you gave me two) under the oak tree and got a lot of shade. Last year we had the water oak cut down and they really got a lot of sun, as you can see from the leaves. I don't remember how long ago I had them but when I saw the flower popping out last week, I got really excited. I looked up at Google search and found out that there're male and female flowers, don't know which one this will be yet!!!

I should be able to dig up old photos and tell you.

 

Pretty flower. All of my understory has more sun exposure as well!

Is that a male or female flower? How can you tell? Mine is showing the flower today, will post picture later....

I have the picture of my cone flower with no other colors like the attached picture, so I believe it's a male flower just like yours, WW!!!