Bromelia

  • Authority

    Smith, Lyman B. 1967. Bromeliaceae of the Guayana Highland. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 14: 15-68.

  • Family

    Bromeliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Bromelia

  • Description

    Genus Description - Coarse herbs, spreading by rhizomes or offsets; leaves usually rosulate, bearing large curved spines along the margins; inflorescence sessile or scapose, always compound; sepals free to half-connate, obtuse to acuminate, rarely mucronate; petals rarely with a definite claw, united into a tube by the filaments but their margins free, without appendages, usually fleshy; stamens included, their filaments forming a tube of various lengths according to the species; epigynous tube conspicuous to nearly lacking; fruit succulent, relatively large; seeds few to many, flattened, naked.

  • Discussion

    Type species: B. pinguin L.

  • Distribution

    About 40 species from Mexico and the West Indies to Paraguay and Argentina. Chiefly terrestrial, very rarely epiphytic. Open places and woods.

    Mexico North America| West Indies| Central America| South America|