bromeliads

Information about bromeliads

“Bromeliad” redirects here. For the trilogy of children's books, see The Bromeliad.
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"|Bromeliaceae
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Pineapple, one member of the Bromeliaceae family

Pineapple, one member of the Bromeliaceae family
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" | Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Liliopsida
Order:Poales
Family:Bromeliaceae
Juss.
Subfamiles


Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) is a family of monocot flowering plants of around 2400 species native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa.[1] The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides, and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple Ananas comosus. Many bromeliads are able to store water in a "tank" formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphytic Tillandsia species which gather water only from leaf structures called trichomes, and a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.

The largest bromeliad is Puya raimondii, which reaches 3–4 m tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 9–10 m tall, and the smallest is probably Spanish moss.

History

Bromeliads are one of the more recent plant groups to have emerged, presumed to have evolved at the close of the Cretaceous, over 65 million years ago. Fossilized bromeliads have been dated to 30 million years ago. The greatest number of primitive species reside in the Andean highlands of South America suggesting a beginning there. The west African species Pitcairnia feliciana is the only bromeliad not endemic to the Americas, and is thought to have reached Africa via long-distance dispersal approximately 12 million years ago[2].

Humans have been using bromeliads for thousands of years. The Incas, Aztecs, Maya and others used them extensively for food, protection, fiber and ceremony, just as they are still used today. European interest began when Spanish conquistadors returned with pineapple which became so popular as an exotic food, that the image of the pineapple was quickly adapted into European art and sculpture. In 1776, the species Guzmania lingulata was introduced to Europe, causing a sensation among gardeners unfamiliar to such a plant. In 1828, Aechmea fasciata was brought to Europe, followed by Vriesea splendens in 1840. These transplants were successful enough that they are still among the most widely grown bromeliad varieties.

In the 1800s breeders in Belgium, France and the Netherlands started hybridizing plants for wholesale trade. Many exotic varieties were produced up until the First World War which halted breeding programs and led to the loss of some species. The plants experienced a resurgence of popularity after World War II. Since then, Dutch, Belgian and North American nurseries have largely expanded bromeliad production.

Description

Bromeliads are a widely varied group of organisms, adapted to a number of climates. Foliage takes many different shapes, from needle thin to broad and flat, symmetrical to irregular, spiky and soft. The foliage, which usually grows in a rosette, is the most widely patterned and colored of any plant in the world. Leaf colors range from maroon, through various shades of green, to gold, with many colors in between. Many varieties have variegated leaves with red, yellow, white and cream variegations. Others may be spotted with purple, red, or cream, while others have different colors on the tops and bottoms of the leaves.

The inflorescence produced by bromeliads are also regarded as considerably more diverse than any other plant family. Some flower spikes may reach 10 meters tall while others only measure 2–3 mm across. Upright stalks may be branched or simple with spikes retaining their color from two weeks up to twelve months, depending on species. In some species the flower remains unseen, growing deep in the vase of the plants.

Root systems vary according to plant type. Terrestrial bromeliad species have complex root systems which gather water and nutrients while epiphytic bromeliads only grow hard, wiry roots to attach themselves to trees and rocks.

Some bromeliads are faintly scented while others are heavily perfumed. Blooms from the species Tillandsia cyanea resemble the smell of clove spice.

Distribution

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Bromeliad distribution


Plants in the Bromeliaceae family are widely represented in their natural climates across the Americas. They can be found at altitudes from sea level to 4200 meters, from rainforests to deserts. Approximately half the species are epiphytes, some are lithophytes, and some are terrestrial. Accordingly, these plants can be found in the Andean highlands, from northern Chile to Colombia, in the Peruvian coastal deserts, in the cloud forest regions of South and Central America, and in the tropical climate region of Florida.

Trivia

  • Certain bat-pollinated wild pineapples, members of the bromeliad family, do the exact opposite of most flowers by opening their flowers at night and closing them during the day to protect them from weevils, which are most active during daylight hours.

Genera

Images of bromeliads


Tillandsia usneoides hanging from branches

The flower of a Billbergia sp.

Puya berteroniana

Flower close-up

Still another photo of a bromeliad

Cultivation and uses

Only one bromeliad, the pineapple Ananas comosus, is a commercially important food crop. Many other bromeliads are popular ornamental plants, grown as both garden and house plants.

External links

Notes

1. ^ Mabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
2. ^ Givnish, T.J., Kendra C. Millam, Timothy M. Evans, Jocelyn C. Hall, J. Chris Pires, Paul E. Berry, Kenneth J. Sytsma (2004). "Ancient Vicariance or Recent Long-Distance Dispersal? Inferences about Phylogeny and South American–African Disjunctions in Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae Based on ndhF Sequence Data". International Journal of Plant Sciences 165: S35-S54. 

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A. comosus

Binomial name
Ananas comosus
(L.) Merr.

Synonyms

Ananas sativus The pineapple (Ananas comosus
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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Liliopsida is a botanical name for the class containing the family Liliaceae (or Lily Family). It is considered synonymous (or nearly synonymous) with the name monocotyledon. Publication of the name is credited to Scopoli (in 1760): see author citation (botany).
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Poales
Small

families
See text

Poales is order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the grasses, bromeliads, and sedges.
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Antoine Laurent de Jussieu

Born March 12 1748(1748--)
Lyon, France
Died September 17 1836 (aged 88)
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Bromelioideae

Bromelioideae is a subfamily of the bromeliads (Bromeliaceae). This family is the most diverse, represented by the greatest number of genera with 78, but the least number of species with approximately 780.
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Pitcairnioideae

Piticairnioidaeae is the terrestrial subfamily of the bromeliads (Bromeliaceae). Unlike the many epiphytes and lithophytes which comprise the rest of the family, with a few exceptions, all of the members of this subfamily are either terrestrial
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Tillandsioideae

Tillandsioideae is a subfamily of plants in the bromeliad family Bromeliaceae. This group contains the least amount of genera (10) but the most amount of species (1250).
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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Monocotyledones

orders
about 10; see text

Monocotyledons or monocots are one of two major groups of flowering plants (angiosperms) that are traditionally recognized, dicotyledons or dicots being the other.
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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at approximately 23°30' (23.5°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°30' (23.5°) S latitude.
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Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.
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Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America[1] and South America with their associated islands and regions. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total surface area (28.
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The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitude 23.5 ° north and south.
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West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa (which coincides with common reckonings of the region) includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of around 5 million
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epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attached to a living plant. The term most commonly refers to higher plants, but epiphytic bacteria, fungi (epiphytic fungi), algae, lichens, mosses, and ferns exist as well.
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T. usneoides

Binomial name
Tillandsia usneoides
(L.) L.

Spanish moss ("Tillandsia usneoides") closely resembles its namesake (Usnea, or beard lichen).
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A terrestrial plant is one that grows on land. Other types of plants are aquatic (living in water), epiphytic (living on trees, but not parasitic) and lithophytes (living in or on rocks).

See also

  • Raunkiær system


[1]
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A. comosus

Binomial name
Ananas comosus
(L.) Merr.

Synonyms

Ananas sativus The pineapple (Ananas comosus
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Water is a common chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life.[1] In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor.
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leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat (laminar) and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast (chlorenchyma tissue, a type of parenchyma) to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate
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Tillandsia
L.

Diversity
Around 400 species

The plant genus Tillandsia, a member of the Bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae), is found in the deserts, forests and mountains of Central and South America, and Mexico and the southern United
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Trichomes, from the Greek meaning "growth of hair", are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and protists. These are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae.
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Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climate or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems and/or roots.
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P. raimondii

Binomial name
Puya raimondii
Harms

Puya Raimondi (Puya raimondii) is an endemic species of the zone altoandina of Peru and Bolivia, found at an altitude of 3200 - 4800 m.
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The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i.e. from 145.5 ± 4.0 million years ago (Ma)) to the beginning of the Paleocene epoch of the Tertiary Period (about 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma).
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