Epiphyte life form of the bromeliads - Mexico

Epiphyte life form of the bromeliads

Bromelia perianth

monocots
Current
Angiosperm
Phylogeny
Group Tree for Flowering
Plants
Bromeliaceae

BROM ELI ACEAE (POALES, M ONOCOTS)
NUMBERS: 46 Genera, 2110 species
GEOGRAPHY: tropical (and subtropical) America (one species, Pitcairnia feliciana, in tropical west Africa)
HABITAT: prominent epiphytes, but also terrestial plants
CHARACTERS DIAGNOSTIC OF MONOCOTS: herbaceous, sympodial plants; vascular bundles in stem scattered, closed [no interfascicular cambium developing]; tertiary veins without free endings, leaf base sh eathing; pollen monosulcate, gynoecium three-parted; cotyledon 1; primary root present but unbranched, not persisting.
CHARACTERS DIAGNOSTIC OF FAMILY:
Habit: rosette herbs and he rbs (rarely rosette trees and climbers)
Shoot often reduced (internodes extremely short)
Vessels throughout plant (missing from roots of some epiphytes, wh ich use peltate hairs on surface for water transport)
Leaves spiral (vs. distichous), with broad sheathing base often seving as water trap; terrestrial species usually spiny-edged

Indument includes wa ter-absorbing peltate scales sunk in ep idermal pit.
Crystalline Inclusions: sacs of calcium oxalate raphides abundant in all parts; spherical silica bodies in leaf and stem epidermis
Inflorescence terminal racemes often with bright-colored bracts (continuing shoots sympodial=axillary as in most monocots)
Flowers bisexual, mostly radially symmetrical
Perianth 3 + 3 tepals, more or less differentiated, usually tubular (but not fused)
Stamens 3 + 3 (connate or not, adnate to tepals or not)
Gynoecium 3-carpellate, 3-locular, with septal nectaries; many seeds with helobial endosperm

Pitcairnioideae
(capsules, seeds without hairs)

Floral anatomy of Bromeliaceae including tepal appendages and septal nectaries ---
Sajo et al. 2004 paper to incorporate for 2016

Pitcairnia

Al Gentry photo
Walter Judd photo
Neoregelia flowers sessile in center

Tillandsioideae
(capsules, seeds with hairs)

Tillandsia with inflorescence

Tillandsia - typical habit (Chiapas, Mexico)

Tillandsia usneoides

Tillandsia as decoration,
Chiapas, Mexico

Vriesia sintenisii
Walter Judd photo

Bromelioideae
(berries) Fig 1
(more
Tillandsoideae,
Fig. 2)

The pineapple - terrestrial, leaves with spines, fleshy fruits, inferior ovary, and delicious.
Ananas bracteatus , an ornamental

1 -superior ovary , fruits dry, seeds tailed
2 - superior ovary, fruits dry, seeds comose
3 - inferior ovary, fruits fleshy, seeds without
BROMELIACEAE:
MORPHOLOGY
AND MOLECULES

Bromeliaceae: Neotropical, with the ealiest-diverging species in the
Guayana Highlands

Brocchinia and
Lindmania from the
Guayana Highlands currently stands as most primitive bromeliad

Bromeliaceae: Neotropical except for one species.

Pitcairnia feliciana from
West Africa – the only
Old World bromeliad

Terrestrial to epiphyte transition in the bromelioids: early events

Puya
AndesCosta Rica

Santa Rosa, Costa Rica
Bromelia - habit and fruiting axis

The pineapple - terrestrial, leaves with spines, fleshy fruits, inferior ovary, and delicious.
Ananas bracteatus , an ornamental

Terrestrial to epiphyte transition in the bromelioids: tank and sepal changes

Aechmaea - beautiful, artificial