Pitcairnioideae

Deuterocohnia lorentziana, small-growing, succulent, cushion -forming species, with greenish flowers.

Pitcairnioideae is a subfamily of the plant family Bromeliaceae ( Bromeliaceae ). The individual subfamilies differ particularly in the fruit type and construction of the flower.

Features

Species in this subfamily Pitcairnioideae have more original features than do the species of the subfamilies Bromelioideae and Tillandsioideae. Only species in the genera which are not assigned to any of these three subfamilies, nor possess more primitive features.

The representatives of the Pitcairnioideae from the other subfamilies of Bromeliaceae differ in the following features:

Ovary: Upper - or semi- upper constant.
Fruit: capsule with many airworthy seeds, which have a comb, hoods or filamentary appendages.
True leaves entire or spined.
Mostly terrestrial, ie growing on the ground. ( In the other two subfamilies outweigh the epiphytes ).
Flowers formula:

Dissemination

The home ranges from the southern United States to Argentina and the Caribbean Islands.

One way out of this subfamily, Pitcairnea feliciana, has its original home in West Africa. All other Bromeliaceae are located purely Neuweltlich. This fact was also used with the evidence of continental drift. This species is one of the most primitive member of the family. The oldest fossils of which it is assumed that they are original forms of the Bromeliaceae, come the time when Africa and South America have together formed the continent of Gondwana and were found in dry areas.

Genera of the subfamily Pitcairnioideae

Today, only six genera include about 670 species in this subfamily. Most, however, the species of the genus Pepinia are included in genus Pitcairnia and it will be only five genera: (as of 2013)

Deuterocohnia Mez: It contains about 18 species, including the species of the former genus Abromeitiella Mez.
Dyckia Schult.f. Contains about 168 species.
Encholirium Mart. ex Schult.f. contains approximately 42 species.
Fosterella LBSm. Contains about 31 to 33 species.
Pepinia Brongn. ex Andre: It contains about 57 species, mostly contained in Pitcairnia.
Pitcairnia L'Her. Contains approximately 342 species if Pepinia is a distinct genus.

Swell

The Bromeliaceae in APWebsite family. ( Section systematics)
HE Luther: An Alphabetical List of Bromeliad Binomials, 2008 The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida, USA. Published by The Bromeliad Society International. (PDF file, 314 kB)
HE Luther: An Alphabetical List of Bromeliad Binomials, 2012, 13th Edition. Published by The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and The Bromeliad Society International.
Werner Rauh: Bromeliads - Tillandsias and other cultural worthy bromeliads, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8001-6371-3.
Eric J. Gouda, Gouda Derek Butcher & Kees: Select a taxon in "Species list" in Encyclopaedia of Bromeliads, Version 3.1, 2012 ( section systematics).

Pitcairnioideae

Features

Dissemination

Genera of the subfamily Pitcairnioideae

Swell

Further Reading