CIR1466 Florida's Native Bromeliads 1 Barbra C. Larson, J. Howard Frank, Ginger M. Allen and Martin B. Main 2 1. This document is Circular 1466, one of a series of the Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), University of Florida. Publication date: September 2004. Please visit the Edis Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu. 2. Barbra C. Larson, State Program Coordinator, Florida Yards & Neighborhoods, and J. Howard Frank, Professor, Entomology and Nematology Department, IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611; Martin B. Main, Associate Professor and Wildlife Extension Specialist, and Ginger M. Allen, Senior Biological Scientist, Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, IFAS, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean Bromeliads are members of the pineapple family Bromeliaceae. They are perennial herbs that lack woody stems and typically grow on other plants or substrates. Bromeliads are not mosses as some of their common names suggest. They are flowering plants, although their blossoms can be very small. All of Florida's 16 native bromeliad species and two natural hybrids (hybrids are produced when cross-pollination occurs between species, producing a new offspring) are epiphytic, which means they grow on other plants. Although epiphytes may attach root structures to their host plant, they do not parasitize the host plant; they simply use it for support. Often called “air plants,” bromeliads absorb surface minerals and water from specialized disc-shaped leaf structures called trichomes. Most Florida bromeliads are “tank” bromeliads that hold water. Tanks are formed by many separate leaf axils (the space between the leaf and stem) or the central leaves together may form a large tank. Trapped plant materials (leaves, seeds, and twigs) are decomposed by bacteria and fungi and absorbed by the trichomes lining the bromeliad tanks. Sometimes found among these plant materials are dead and drowning non-aquatic insects, which also provide nutrients for the bromeliads. Catopsis berteroniana, a species of tank bromeliad found in south Florida, has evolved the ability to trap insects and utilize their nutrients to such a degree that it is essentially a carnivorous plant. Bromeliad tanks also provide habitat for mosquito larvae and various other invertebrate and small vertebrate animals. Consequently, bromeliads play important ecological roles, both as habitat and in nutrient recycling. Ten of Florida's 16 native bromeliad species are listed as threatened or endangered. A threatened species is at risk of becoming endangered, and an endangered species is at risk of becoming extinct. Loss of habitat, illegal collecting of specimens from natural areas, and the non-native Mexican bromeliad weevil (Metamasius callizona) are the greatest threats to Floridas bromeliads. There is also a bromeliad weevil that is native to Florida (Metamasius mosieri), but whereas the native weevil does not typically kill the plant, the Mexican bromeliad weevils larvae typically do. The rapid spread of the Mexican bromeliad weevil throughout south Florida is a potentially serious threat to these rare plants. For more information on the Mexican bromeliad weevil problem, please see the additional information section Archival copy: for current recommendations see http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu or your local extension office.