I saw this plant on display at the Carmel Vally Flower and Garden Show over the weekend...AND...it was LABELED! Queen's Tears. A little bit of research and I find that the scientific name is Billbergia nutans. It's a member the Bromeliaceae family and similar to other bromeliads it produces offsets or "pups". Another common name is Friendship plant.
What IS this? I've seen it growing (& flowering) in pots outside 2 local restaurants lately. Here's a picture of the entire plant:
The leaves are unremarkable, but the flowers...now they are something else altogether!
