Billbergia

 ( Bromeliaceae Genera ) 

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

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Description The Billbergia species are rosette-forming, evergreen perennial plants, usually epiphyte, occasionally terrestrial or lithotypic in habit.

(2025). 9781405332965, Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 9781405332965

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.

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: $\backslash star$ bis $\backslash downarrow\; \backslash ;\; K\_3\; \backslash ;\; C\_\{(3)\}\; \backslash ;\; A\_\{3+3\}\; \backslash ;\; G\_\{\backslash overline\{(3)\}\}$

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.

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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. 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.

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Species

from Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador

Bolivia

Rio de Janeiro

Rondônia

Peru, Bolivia, Brazil

Colombia

Peru

Peru

Bolivia

Bolivia

Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana

Brazil, Paraguay

Brazil, Bolivia

Bolivia

Acre, Ecuador

Mexico and Central America from Sinaloa to Nicaragua

Brazil, Paraguay

Peru

Trinidad, Venezuela

Suriname

Colombia, Acre

Ecuador, Peru

Peru

Brazil, Colombia, Guianas

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay

Brazil

Espírito Santo

Brazil, but probably extinct

Espírito Santo

Espírito Santo

Billbergia × claudioi Leme - Brazil

southern Brazil

Espírito Santo

Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais

southeastern Brazil

southeastern Brazil

southeastern Brazil

Espírito Santo

Espírito Santo

Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais

Espírito Santo

southeastern Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

Bahia, Minas Gerais

Venezuela

Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais

eastern Brazil

Bahia, Espírito Santo

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay

Minas Gerais

Brazil, Venezuela, French Guiana, Lesser Antilles, Cuba; naturalized in Mauritius

Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais

southeastern Brazil

eastern Brazil

Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro

southeastern Brazil

southeastern Brazil

Belize, Guatemala, Tabasco

eastern Brazil

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Distribution They are native plant to forest and scrub, up to an altitude of , in southern Mexico, the West Indies, Central America and South America, with many species endemism to Brazil. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families

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External links

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