What are bromeliads: Difference between revisions

[[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.

[[File:Puya raimondii hábito.jpg|thumb|<center><small>''Puya raimondii''</small></center>]]Like all other monocotyledonous plants Bromeliads always have trifoliate flowers. That indicates 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 are bisexual, that means they have male organs as well as female organs in one flower. Only a small number of species produce unisexual flowers. They are called ''dioecious'', meaning the whole plant is either male or female (f. e. the genera ''Androlepis'', ''Hechtia'' and some species of ''Catopsis'' and ''Aechmea''). In Bromeliads scent occurs regrettably seldom. The inflorescences are plain or compound racemes or panicles shaped very differently. Whereas the genus ''Neoregelia'' builds his flowers sunken deeply in the cistern, sometimes even hard to spot, the inflorescence of ''Puya raimondii'' with her thousands of individual flowers may be higher than 8 (!) meters. This species has, by the way, made it’s way into the “Guinness book of records” as the plant with the tallest inflorescence in the world.