Brocchinia micrantha (Baker) Mez

  • Authority

    Smith, Lyman B. & Downs, Robert J. 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 14 (1): 1-658. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bromeliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Brocchinia micrantha (Baker) Mez

  • Type

    TYPE. Im Thurn s n (holotype, K), Kaieteur Savanna, Essequibo, Guyana.

  • Synonyms

    Brocchinia cordylinoides Baker, Cordyline micrantha Baker

  • Description

    Description - Plant to 8 m high; flowering shoot 2.6 m long; stem columnar, woody, 15 cm in diameter. Leaves many in a spreading rosette at the summit of the stem, 8-12 dm long, 12-20 cm wide above the dark brown sheath, broadly acute and apiculate, not areolate but distinctly nerved. Scape stout. Inflorescence 5-6-pinnate, 2 m long, diffuse; primary bracts lanceolate, acuminate, many times shorter than the branches; lower branches to 1 m long. Floral bracts spreading, lanceolate, attenuate, 1 mm long; flowers suberect, short-pedicellate, 5 mm long, whitish. Sepals elliptic, rounded, 3 mm long; petals suborbicular, emarginate, distinctly unguiculate, 4 mm long; filaments short-adnate to sepals and half-adnate to petals; ovary 3/4 inferior, glabrous. Capsule 8 mm long; seeds few, 2 mm long, compressed, with an encircling wing elongated at either end, 7 mm long.

  • Distribution

    Forming colonies in savannas, 500-1200 m alt, Bolívar, Venezuela, and eastern Guyana.

    Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Essequibo Guyana South America|