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Dyckia floribunda 'La Rioja' (Silver Starfish) - An attractive terrestrial bromeliad that grows as a cluster under 1 foot tall with open rosettes with 12- to 18-inch-long recurved leaves that have leaves that are whitened by leaf-scales and leaf tips with pink to purple tones and the leaf margins are adorned with well-spaced short stiff teeth. In spring and summer arise the inflorescence to 18 inches above the foliage with a terminal panicle of yellow flowers.
Plant in full to part sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to around 15°F. A very interesting and attractive plant for containers or in the succulent garden where it can make a nice attractive low growing specimen plant or small-scale ground cover.
Dyckia floribunda has a wide distribution through central and northern Argentina. The name for the genus honors Josef Maria Franz Anton Hubert Ignatz (1773-1861), who was the Prince and Earl of Salm Reifferscheid-Dyck and whose family ruled an area west of Cologne and Dusseldorf, Germany. The name is usually seen as Salm-Dyck.
We originally received this plant under the valid name Dyckia velascana from both the Huntington Botanic Garden and the Ruth Bancroft Garden. Both received the plant from Inge Hoffmann, who collected seed of it at a location between Famatina and Tinogasta in the province of La Rioja in Argentina in 1983. The Huntington Botanic Garden accessioned this plant as HBG#49590 and it was a 1987 International Succulent Introduction as Dyckia sp. ISI#1750. Since it lacked a specific name, it was called 'La Rioja' (from the location in Argentina where it was collected) and also Silver Starfish by those who grew it and later it was suggested that it had affinities to Dyckia velascana, so we first attached this name to it. John Trager, succulent curator at the Huntington Botanic Garden, notified us in 2008 that it was determined to be a form of Dyckia floribunda by the late Harry Luther, Selby Botanical Garden's "Mr. Bromeliad", and this is the name we use with 'La Rioja' as the cultivar name and Silver Starfish as a common name.
We began building stock on this plant in 2008 after receiving two plants from Brian Kemble of the Ruth Bancroft Garden and one plant from John Trager at the Huntington Botanic Garden and were finally able to offer plants for sale in 2016. We sold this unique and attractive plant until we closed our nursery in 2025.
The information displayed on this page about Dyckia floribunda 'La Rioja' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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