Biology:Billbergia

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Short description: Genus of flowering plants

Billbergia
Billbergia amoena imported from iNaturalist photo 103342988 on 28 November 2023.jpg
Billbergia amoena
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Bromeliaceae
Subfamily: Bromelioideae
Genus: Billbergia
Thunb.
Type species
Billbergia amoena
Synonyms[1]
  • Anacyclia Hoffmanns.
  • Eucallias Raf.
  • Jonghea Lem.
  • Cremobotrys Beer
  • Helicodea Lem.
  • Pseudaechmea L.B.Sm. & Read

Billbergia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Bromelioideae.

Description

The Billbergia species are rosette-forming, evergreen perennials, usually epiphytic, occasionally terrestrial or lithotypic in habit.[2] They are mostly medium-sized species with small funnel diameters. Most species are epiphytes, some species grow on plants, on rocks, as well as directly on the ground. Water collects in the leaf funnels. In many funnels there are small biotopes with several species of animals and algae and aquatic plants. The rough leaves are always reinforced on the edge (as with all genera of the Bromelioideae), with a spiked tip. In some species and varieties, the leaves are beautifully colored. In many species, suction scales are everywhere on the leaves, often also on the inflorescence.[3]

They often bloom with brilliantly colored flowers with long-lasting inflorescence (inflorescences). The inflorescence often hang with terminal scape, erect or decurved. Strikingly colored bracts (bracts) often sit on the inflorescence; the color red dominates (usually with a blue component).

Flowers bisexual, sessile or conspicuously pedicellate; sepals free; petals free, threefold with a double perianth, with basal appendages, often spirally recurved at anthesis; stamens free or adnate to the petals, the anthers without appendages; inferior ovary. There are three sepals present. The three petals often have different shades of blue, there are also yellow, green and white. Birds are the pollinators of the blue-flowered species. An important characteristic that distinguishes them from other genera is that their petals curl up when they wither. The individual flowers only bloom for a few hours and can be pollinated for much less time. Most species have small scales (Ligulea) at the base of the petals. The six stamens and the style often protrude far from the flower. A large part of the species blooms at night. The flower formula is: [math]\displaystyle{ \star }[/math] bis [math]\displaystyle{ \downarrow \; K_3 \; C_{(3)} \; A_{3+3} \; G_{\overline{(3)}} }[/math]

The fruits are multi-seeded berries, often heavily colored when ripe; red to blue dominate here. The fruits are eaten by animals (mainly by birds, less often by bats and monkeys). The seeds are excreted undigested and end up on branches with the feces.

Taxonomy

The Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) established the genus Billbergia in Plantarum Brasiliensium ..., 3, 1821 p. 30 with the type species being Billbergia speciosa.[4] The genus, named for the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and anatomist Gustaf Johan Billberg (1772–1844), is divided into two subgenera: Billbergia and Helicodea. Species in subgenus Helicodea are distinguishable by the tightly recurved 'clock spring' flower petals, unlike other billbergias where the petals are flared.

Species

Subgenus Image Scientific name Distribution
Subgenus Helicodea (Lemaire) Baker Billbergia acreana H. Luther Brazil (Acre)
Bromeliaceae - Billbergia alfonsi-johannis.JPG Billbergia alfonsi-joannis Reitz from Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina
Billbergia kuhlmannii 04.jpg Billbergia brasiliensis L.B.Sm. Rio de Janeiro
Billbergia brachysiphon L.B.Sm. Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador
Billbergia cardenasii L.B.Sm. Bolivia
Billbergia cylindrostachya Mez Rio de Janeiro
Billbergia dasilvae Leme Rondônia
Billbergia decora Poepp. & Endl. Peru, Bolivia, Brazil
IKAl 20131109 Billbergia eloisiae.jpg Billbergia eloiseae L.B.Sm. & Read Colombia
Billbergia formosa Ule Peru
Billbergia incarnata (Ruiz & Pavón) Schultes f. Peru
Billbergia issingiana T.Krömer & E.Gross Bolivia
Billbergia jandebrabanderi R.Vásquez & Ibisch Bolivia
Matthaei Botanical Gardens - IMG 9000.JPG Billbergia macrolepis L.B.Sm. Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana
Billbergia magnifica Mez Brazil, Paraguay
Billbergia meyeri Mez Brazil, Bolivia
Billbergia microlepis L.B.Sm. Bolivia
Billbergia oxysepala Mez Acre, Ecuador
Billbergia pallidiflora.jpg Billbergia pallidiflora Liebmann Mexico and Central America from Sinaloa to Nicaragua
Billbergia porteana flower close-up.jpg Billbergia porteana Brongn. ex Beer Brazil, Paraguay
Billbergia robert-readii E.Gross & Rauh Peru
Billbergia rosea Beer Trinidad, Venezuela
Billbergia rubicunda Mez Suriname
Billbergia rupestris L.B.Sm. Colombia, Acre
Billbergia stenopetala Harms Ecuador, Peru
Billbergia tessmannii Harms Peru
Billbergia violacea Beer Brazil, Colombia, Guianas
Billbergia zebrina (Herb.) Lindl. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
Subgenus Billbergia Billbergia ambigua (L.B.Sm. & Read) Betancur & N.R.Salinas, syn. Pseudaechmea ambigua Antioquia
Billbergia amoena.jpg Billbergia amoena (G.Lodd.) Lindl. Brazil
Billbergia bradeana L.B.Sm. Espírito Santo
Billbergia buchholtzii. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.jpg Billbergia buchholtzii Mez Brazil, but probably extinct
Billbergia castelensis E.Pereira Espírito Santo
Billbergia chlorantha, Conservatoire botanique national de Brest 02.jpg Billbergia chlorantha L.B.Sm. Espírito Santo
Billbergia × claudioi Leme - Brazil
Bromeliad spike.jpg Billbergia distachya (Vell.) Mez southern Brazil
Billbergia domingosmartinsis E.Gross Espírito Santo
Billbergia elegans Martius ex Schultes f. Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais
水塔花屬 Billbergia euphemiae -墨爾本 Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne- (9152017972).jpg Billbergia euphemiae E.Morren southeastern Brazil
Billbergia horrida HabitusInflorescence BotGardBln0906c.jpg Billbergia horrida Regel southeastern Brazil
Billbergia iridifolia (Nees & Mart.) Lindl. southeastern Brazil
Billbergia kautskyana E.Pereira Espírito Santo
Billbergia laxiflora L.B.Sm. Espírito Santo
Billbergia leptopoda 14.jpg Billbergia leptopoda L.B.Sm. Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais
Billbergia lietzei E.Morren Espírito Santo
Billbergia lymanii E.Pereira & Leme southeastern Brazil
Billbergia macracantha E.Pereira Rio de Janeiro
Billbergia macrocalyx Inflorescence BotGardBln1006i.JPG Billbergia macrocalyx Hooker Bahia, Minas Gerais
Billbergia manarae Steyerm. Venezuela
Billbergia minarum L.B.Sm. Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais
Billbergia morelii Brongn. eastern Brazil
Billbergia nana E.Pereira Bahia, Espírito Santo
Billbergia nutans 6zz.jpg Billbergia nutans H.Wendland ex Regel Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
Billbergia pohliana Mez Minas Gerais
Billbergia pyramidalis in Hyderabad Nursery W IMG 0425.jpg Billbergia pyramidalis (Sims) Lindl. Brazil, Venezuela, French Guiana, Lesser Antilles, Cuba; naturalized in Mauritius
Billbergia reichardtii Wawra Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais
Billbergia sanderiana E.Morren southeastern Brazil
Billbergia saundersii W.Bull eastern Brazil
Billbergia seidelii L.B.Sm. & Reitz Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro
Billbergia speciosa Thunb. southeastern Brazil
Billbergia tweedieana Baker southeastern Brazil
Billbergia viridiflora H.Wendland Belize, Guatemala, Tabasco
Gardenology.org-IMG 2412 hunt08sep.jpg Billbergia vittata Brongn. eastern Brazil

Distribution

They are native to forest and scrub, up to an altitude of 1,700 m (5,577 ft), in southern Mexico, the West Indies, Central America and South America, with many species endemic to Brazil .[1]

References

External links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Bromeliaceae". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 632. 

Wikidata ☰ Q132807 entry