What are bromeliads: Difference between revisions

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 pubescence thereby carries 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 inside the 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 the well known Louisiana moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'').

Like all other monocotyledonous plants Bromeliads always have trifoliate flowers. That indi-cates that the number of all organs of the plant is divisible by three. That is: Three sepals, three petals, six stamens  and the ovary, consisting of three carpels. Often the signaling to attract potential pollinators is increased by very decorative bracts. Bromeliads predominantly have male and female flower organs combined in one flower. Only a small number of species produce unisexual flowers. They are called dioecious, meaning the whole plants are either male or female (f. e. the taxa ''Androlepis'', ''Hechtia'' and some species of ''Catopsis'' and ''Aechmea''). Scent occurs regrettably seldom in Bromeliads. The inflorescences are plain or compound racemes or panicles shaped very differently. Whereas the taxon ''Neoregelia'' builds his flowers sunken deeply in the cistern, sometimes even hard to spot, the inflorescence of ''Puya raimondii'' with his thousands of individual flowers may be higher than 8 (!) meters. This species has, by the by, made it’s way into the “Guinness book of records” as the plant with the highest inflorescence in the world.

The family of the Bromeliaceae subsumes as now about 60 taxa and approximately 3000 spe-cies. Until some years ago they were separated in three subfamilies.

Only a few species of the Bromeliaceae are in service as a useful plant. Without question the biggest commercial relevance the pineapple draws on itself. Also the fruits of the ''Bromelia karatas'', common in the Caribbean, are edible and very tasty. The stems of ''Bromelia karatas'' and ''Bromelia laciniosa'' (called "Macambira" in Brasilia) after cooking and drying at the sun pro-vide a starch flour, and the hearts of some Puya species of the Andes are used as salad and are the favourite dish of the Andean bear (''Tremarctos ornatus'').