Catopsis berteroniana
Catopsis berteroniana in the Sierra de Lema
Catopsis berteroniana is an epiphytic plant of the family Bromeliaceae ( Bromeliaceae ).
Ecology
As with all funnel bromeliads water is collected in the leaf hoppers. There also fall into dust, parts of plants and animals. Organic material is decomposed by means of bacteria and fungi. The then dissolved nutrients are absorbed through the leaves.
Catopsis berteroniana is so far the only Catopsis - type, which is regarded as präkarnivor. This means that it is the beginning of a development towards a carnivorous plant. The prey ( insects) drowns in the water-filled craters, but there is no digestion with enzymes, but the plant needs to obtain nutrients from captured animals bacteria as an aid (as opposed to the carnivorous plants in the strict sense). In the hoppers were found very low pH values , thus it was concluded that this leads to better assimilation of nutrients.
Dissemination
The distribution area extends from Florida to the southern United States through Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands to Ecuador and eastern Brazil (Bahia, Parana and Santa Catarina ) at altitudes 100-1300 m above sea level.
System
The description of the plant under the name Tillandsia berteroniana by the two Austrian botanist Joseph August Schultes and Julius Hermann Schultes (father and son) appeared in 1830 in the report issued jointly by Joseph August Schultes and Johann Jacob Romans 16th edition of the work Caroli a Linné systema vegetabilium. The German botanist Carl Christian Mez was referring to 1896, this basionym, but the type associated with the name Catopsis berteroniana to another genus, thus giving the first description currently valid.
Synonyms for the species are:
- Tillandsia berteroniana Schultes f, 1830
- Pogospermum berteronianum ( Schultes f ) Brongniart, 1864
- Catopsis mosenii Mez, 1896