NEOREGELIA lilliputiana (species) – and its Hybrids.
Complied and presented by Joy Clark at BSA February 2016 meeting.

Neoregelia lilliputiana is endemic to the Brazilian rainforests and is one of the smallest Neoregelia species. It is thought to be closely allied to the ampullaceal group.

Individual plants are about 7-8cm tall with green leaves mottled with reddish, purple bandings below and spotting on top of the leaves. Blueish/purple flowers emerge from the centre well. The fairly quick grower has 3-5cm long stolons that can make an attractive colony in pot culture in a short time. It also has a cascading growth habit which adds to its appeal. Neoregelia lilliputiana also grows well if attached to trees or other media.

Growing conditions: light and nutrient affect both size and colour of this “cute” little plant. I’ve found it is quite tough and grows best with no fertiliser other than a foliar feed every now and again and hung in an area of bright light to give it good colour.

Because of its size it is quite often used by hybridist to create smaller or miniature neoregelia hybrids.

A hybrid plant is created either in nature or in cultivation, by the cross pollination of two different plants to get the best characteristics of the two plants into one plant. The best looking of the offspring is what we, the bromeliad collectors have, either under the formula name or hybrid name. Hybridising can be successful between two species: species x hybrid, hybrid x hybrid or genera x genera.

There have been many hybrids created with Neo lilliputiana in the mix, some where the lilliputiana colour and size influence is quite obvious e.g. Neoregelia Small Fry, others where the size factor has contributed to the new hybrid to an extent but not so much the lilliputiana colour characteristics e.g. Devin’s Delight.

Following is a list of just a few hybrids that have been created either with lilliputiana as the pollen parent or seed parent.

Black Tracker, Bromanza, Chiquita Linda, Cougar, Dark Mood, Devin’s Delight, Felix, Flare Up, Gold Pass, Grace’s Avalanche, Grace’s Focus, Jack Smack, Jolly, Lillipet, Little Jewel, Littlie, Molly, Neil’s Pick, Neil’s Pleasure, Neil’s Wish, Night Spot, Peter Pink, Pussy Foot, Roundabout, Small Fry, Spooky, Spotted Devil, Tabby, Tassie Tiger and Tiger Tot and Witchcraft.

(Only the parent, other than Neo. Lilliputiana, have been shown in the photographs.)

If you want to see the full list of registered lilliputiana hybrids go to the Bromeliad Cultivar Register and type in lilliputiana then click search and you will see there are quite a few hybrids out there.

There are other hybrids where lilliputiana has contributed to size or colour which have rather complicated name formulas. e.g.

lilliputiana has been used extensively in hybrids producing stunning miniature neoregelias. No doubt there will be many, many more to come from this little species.