What are bromeliads: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Ananasstaude.JPG|thumb|250px]]Nobody should presume he does not know any „Bromeliads“. For at least one species – in fact being not an ornamental but an economic plant - is on the tip of everybody’s tongue: the pineapple. She was the first representative of her family to find her way to Europe, rather soon after the discovery of America. The Bromeliads (lat.: Bromeliaceae) obtained their name by the French botanist Charles Plumier who published them 1703 for the first time, naming them after his friend, the Swedish physician and botanist Olaf Bromel (1639-1705). In german language generally the name “pineapple plants” is in use. | [[File:Ananasstaude.JPG|thumb|250px]]Nobody should presume he does not know any „Bromeliads“. For at least one species – in fact being not an ornamental but an economic plant - is on the tip of everybody’s tongue: the pineapple. She was the first representative of her family to find her way to Europe, rather soon after the discovery of America. The Bromeliads (lat.: ''Bromeliaceae'') obtained their name by the French botanist Charles Plumier who published them 1703 for the first time, naming them after his friend, the Swedish physician and botanist Olaf Bromel (1639-1705). In german language generally the name “pineapple plants” is in use. | ||
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== Distribution == | == Distribution == | ||
[[File:WorldBromeliadDistribution.PNG|thumb|<center>Distribution map</center>]] | [[File:WorldBromeliadDistribution.PNG|thumb|<center>Distribution map</center>]] | ||
Bromeliads are growing exclusively in the New World, which means North and South America. Solely the species Pitcairnia Feliciana also exists in the western Africa. The distribution area of Bromeliads ranges from the South of the USA over Central America far down to Argentina and Chile. They thrive in nearly every living environment, including all deserts of the Western Hemisphere, even inclusive of the desert most arid in the world, the Atacama. Wether moist and hot lowland rainforests, dry cactus and thorn forests, or moist and could rain- and cloud forest of the mountains, even on the table mounts of Venezuela (Tepuis) and in the Páramos of the Andes, more than 4000m high, are to be found Bromeliads. | Bromeliads are growing exclusively in the New World, which means North and South America. Solely the species ''Pitcairnia Feliciana'' also exists in the western Africa. The distribution area of Bromeliads ranges from the South of the USA over Central America far down to Argentina and Chile. They thrive in nearly every living environment, including all deserts of the Western Hemisphere, even inclusive of the desert most arid in the world, the Atacama. Wether moist and hot lowland rainforests, dry cactus and thorn forests, or moist and could rain- and cloud forest of the mountains, even on the table mounts of Venezuela (Tepuis) and in the Páramos of the Andes, more than 4000m high, are to be found Bromeliads. | ||
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== Habitus and | == Habitus and Leaves == | ||
As varied as their dissimilar habitats are size, shape and texture of these plants. Not only within the family, even in one genus size and shape can vary that much you never would believe they are relatives. The size ranges from a few millimeters to several meters. | As varied as their dissimilar habitats are size, shape and texture of these plants. Not only within the family, even in one genus size and shape can vary that much you never would believe they are relatives. The size ranges from a few millimeters to several meters. | ||
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</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
Bromeliads are indeciduous, hardy herbaceous perennials. Rarely species occur which are deciduous in the dry season, like for example Pitcairnia heterophylla. Her main shoot flowers only once and dies after the maturation of her seeds. This dieback takes place only gradually, because at the same time they produce replacing offshoots (called pups) which guarantee the continuance of the shoot system and can be used for multiplication. Only a few species die ultimately after bloom and maturity of the seeds. | Bromeliads are indeciduous, hardy herbaceous perennials. Rarely species occur which are deciduous in the dry season, like for example ''Pitcairnia heterophylla''. Her main shoot flowers only once and dies after the maturation of her seeds. This dieback takes place only gradually, because at the same time they produce replacing offshoots (called pups) which guarantee the continuance of the shoot system and can be used for multiplication. Only a few species die ultimately after bloom and maturity of the seeds. | ||
All representatives have in common the so called “absorbant hairs” or “scales” (foliar tri-chomes) on their leaves. Depending on habitat and way of life the scales enclose the leave partly or entirely and give it a striped design or a grey up to white shimmer. The absorbant hairs thereby carry out more than one purpose. In sunny places they reflect the sunlight and by that they reduce the loss of water caused by evaporation. At the same time they multiply the surface of the leave to a great extent and thereby enlarge the accumulation of dew on the leaves in sites with low precipitation. The dew and it’s solute nutritive substances are absorbed by the trichomes like by blotting paper and are conveyed into the inner leave. Some Bromeliads have perfected this technique to an extend that they almost dispense with roots and subsist exclusively by way of the scales, like he well known Louisiana moss (''Tillandsia usneoides''). | |||