Vriesea (name for Willem Hendrik de Vriese, Dutch botanist, physician) is the second largest genus of the Tillandsioideae subfamily in the botanical family Bromeliaceae. Containing some of the largest bromeliad species, these tropical plants harbor a wide variety of insect fauna, unlike the smaller catopsis species. This genus is closely related to Tillandsia, only differentiated by the presence of petal appendages in Vriesea.