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Bromeliad |
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Bromeliads are members of a plant family called Bromeliaceae. The most well known bromeliad is the pineapple! This family contains a wide variety of plants that don't even resemble a bromeliad, like Spanish Moss. Bromeliads are a Neotropical family, which means that they grow exclusively in the New World. Most come from South American, where the greatest number of species is found in Brazil. |
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All bromeliads grow their leaves in a spiral arrangement called a rosette. The base of each leaf rosette overlaps tightly to form a water reservoir. The central "cup" of the bromeliad collects a variety of detritus and insects, which aids in nutrient absorption.
The flowering stalk which you see in both pictures comes from the rosette of the bromeliad. The colorful leaf-like appendages are called leaf bracts, which help attract pollinators. And most bromeliads will stop growing after producing the flower and growing leaves. What they do to multiply is to create "pups" or new plantlets that will grow using the mother plant as a nutrient source.
Remember, when you walk through the produce section of a supermarket and see a pineapple, the fleshy green top of the plant is a "pup" and may be removed to start a whole new bromeliad!
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Leaf bracts on the appendages of the flower |
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All images are copyrighted. McCall 2004 |
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