Hi,

It's some kind of Bromeliad, maybe an Achmea or Guzmania. I don't know its care, someone else will come along w/ suggestions. Nice plant.

I don't believe any leaves should be pulled off, they all look just fine to me.

It's a Guzmania - I have never grown one but Google brings up lots of info. Don't remove the bottom leaves unless they die off.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guzmania thread

This post was edited by flora_uk on Thu, May 16, 13 at 13:48

It's a Guzmania Empire.

The central red flower will gradually die and you can trim the dead bits off.

You can already see new shoots coming up the sides - EVENTUALLY they will produce new red flowers.

Oh, and keep it pretty dry - certainly don't let water sit in the joints between the leaves.

It could be a guzmania, but I think more likely to be a neoregelia. No matter, culture is the same.
DO NOT water in the cup, as most sources will tell you to, and which the card that you lost almost certainly said. Watering in the cup is what happens outdoors, but indoors, that's the way to rot the plant. Water the soil, same as any potted plant.

Water it only when the soil is ALMOST dry all the way to the bottom of the pot; use a small wooden dowel or kebob skewer to reach into the soil to tell the moisture.

The flower may last up to 3 months, but eventually it will die, and you can reach down inside with some scissors and cut it out. The mother plant can be kept as a foliage plant for many years, if you don't overwater.

If there's lots of light, the pups at the side should continue to grow, although many of the modern cultivars don't reliably flower a second time . At any rate, the mother plant will die after a few years - they flower only once in their lives.