Brocchinia

Brocchinia cf reducta in its natural habitat: Roraima Tepui, Venezuela.

Brocchinia is the only plant genus of the subfamily Brocchinioideae within the family Bromeliaceae ( Bromeliaceae ). The approximately 21 species are native to southern Venezuela and Guyana. Brocchinia species are rarely in culture, the most widespread is Brocchinia reducta.

  • 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Brocchinia species grow as perennial herbaceous plants. The leaves are borne in a rosette of leaves. The simple leaves are smooth-edged and have only one terminal spine.

The inflorescence ( inflorescence ) grows upright and has green bracts ( bracts ). The small, three-fold, radial symmetry flowers are inconspicuous. The three petals are white to green.

Flowers formula:

They form capsule fruits with many small seeds airworthy.

Special

Karnivorie and Präkarnivorie

Brocchinia reducta Baker and Brocchinia hechtioides Mez differ from the other Brocchinia species. For them, the surface of the leaves is slippery, so that potential prey slip in and drown here in the leaf hopper.

So far, one is assumed that in both species no digestion with self-produced enzymes ( in contrast to the carnivorous plants, carnivorous plants ) is present, the plants would therefore require bacteria as a digestive aid. Therefore, these species have been described as präkarnivor. 2005, however, pointed Bartek Plachno of the University of Krakow in Poland after phosphatase activity in digestive glands of Brocchinia reducta, making this type is considered to be carnivorous in the strict sense. There are no such studies for the very closely related Brocchinia hechtioides, therefore at the moment to go for this kind of still a Präkarnivorie.

" Ant plant"

The type Brocchinia acuminata lives with colonies of ants. The leaves have a swollen leaf base, in which the ants nest. Similar communities also exist in other tropical plant species. Such plants are called ant-plants ( Myrmecophyten ). The excrement of ants is used to Brocchinia acuminata as an additional source of nutrients. It is a symbiosis because both organisms benefit from it.

Dissemination

Most species of the genus grow like most epiphytic Bromeliaceae or lithophytic. Few species of the genus Brocchinia grow terrestrially in Brazil, Guyana, Colombia and Venezuela. Some species that live on the tepuis, grow on bare rock.

System

The genus Brocchinia in 1830 by Josef August Schultes & Julius Hermann Schultes in Johann Jacob Roemer & Schultes Josef August: placed LXX, S. 1250: Systema Vegetabilium, 7 ( 2). The genus name honors the Brocchinia Italian scientist Giambattista Brocchi ( 1772-1826 ). is in the original description said: " Diximus in honorem divi GB Brocchi, Italiae splendidi Decoris, qui amore scientiae naturalius deperiit in Nubia. " (Translated: " Dedicated to GB Brocchi, the glorious fame of Italy, who loved the natural sciences and in Nubia (Egypt) died. ") Type species is Brocchinia paniculata Schult. f.

The genus Brocchinia has been assigned to the subfamily Pitcairnioideae earlier; According to recent molecular genetic studies, they alone forms the subfamily Brocchinioideae. Together with some other genera, it has been classified as a basal group of the Bromeliaceae.

The genus includes about 21 species Brocchinia:

  • Brocchinia acuminata L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia amazonica L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia cataractarum ( Sandwith ) B.Holst
  • Brocchinia cowanii L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia delicatula L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia gilmartiniae G.S.Varadarajan
  • Brocchinia hechtioides Mez
  • Brocchinia hitchcockii L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia maguirei L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia melanacra L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia micrantha ( Baker) Mez
  • Brocchinia paniculata Schultes f
  • Brocchinia prismatica L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia reducta Baker
  • Brocchinia rupestris ( Gleason ) B.Holst
  • Brocchinia serrata L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia steyermarkii L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia tatei L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia uaipanensis ( Maguire ) Givnish ( Syn: Barbacenia uaipanensis Maguire, Ayensua uaipanensis ( Maguire ) LBSmith )
  • Brocchinia vestita L.B.Smith
  • Brocchinia wurdackiana B.Holst

Swell

  • The Bromeliaceae family in APWebsite ( section systematics)
  • Werner Rauh: Bromeliads - Tillandsias and other cultural worthy bromeliads, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8001-6371-3
  • Thomas J. Givnish, JC Pires, SW Graham, MA McPherson, LM Prince, TB Patterson: Phylogeny, biogeography, and ecological evolution in Bromeliaceae: Insights from ndhF sequences. in JT Columbus, EA Friar, JM Porter, LM Prince, MG Simpson: Monocots: Comparative Biology and Evolution. Poales, Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, Claremont, 2006, 23, 3-26.
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