Pitcairnia megasepala Baker

  • Family

    Bromeliaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Pitcairnia megasepala Baker

  • Primary Citation

    Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, London 19: 229. 1881

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Type -- I. F. Holton 153, verif. B. P. G. Hochreutiner, 1907

  • Description

    Author : Juan Francisco Morales, Xavier Cornejo & Reinaldo Aguilar.

    Description: Terrestrial herbs, forming rosettes. Blades polymorphic, the outer reduced, ovate, the apex linear with margins spinose-serrate; some progressively longer, triangular to lanceolate, foliaceous, the margins entire; the central ones elongate, linear, 105-140 x 1.8-2.7 cm, deciduous, the margins entire, the apex attenuate. Scapes erect, slender, ca. 40-70 cm long, soon glabrous; scape bracts linear-lanceolate, green, the lower exceeding internodes. Inflorescences simple or few-branched at base, 20-33 cm long. Floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, 10-27 mm long, the lowest much exceeding the pedicels. Flowers pedicelate, the pedicels straight, slenderly cylindric, 5-20 mm long; sepals narrowly lanceolate, 30-40 mm long, alate-carinate, the apex attenuate; petals oblong, 40-60 mm long, yellow or white (red, fide Smith & Downs, 1974), bearing a crenate or emarginate scale at base. Fruits capsules, 35-42 mm long. Seeds bialate.

    Common names: None recorded.

    Distribution: Costa Rica to Colombia from sea level to 1400 m (Smith & Downs, 1974).

    Ecology: In moist and wet forests (Morales, 2003). Often forming dense colonies on steep banks.

    Phenology: This species has been observed with flowers from Oct to Dec (Morales, 2003).

    Pollination: No observations recorded.

    Dispersal: Wind dispersed.

    Taxonomic notes: This species is recognized by the polymorphic leaf blades; flowers with sepals alate-carinate, 30-40 mm long; and the slender cylindric pedicels, 5-20 mm long.

    Conservation: Not recorded.

    Uses: None recorded.

    Etymology: The epithet refers to the relatively large sepals.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Pitcairnia megasepala Baker: [Article] Smith, Lyman B. 1957. The Bromeliaceae of Colombia. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 33: i-v, 1-311.

    Pitcairnia megasepala Baker: [Article] Smith, Lyman B. & Downs, Robert J. 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 14 (1): 1-658.