Pitcairnia feliciana
| Pitcairnia feliciana | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Bromeliaceae |
| Genus: | Pitcairnia |
| Species: | P. feliciana |
| Binomial name | |
| Pitcairnia feliciana (A.Chev.) Harms & Mildbr. | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Willrussellia feliciana A.Chev. | |
Pitcairnia feliciana is an endemic plant to central Guinea in West Africa and is the only species of bromeliad not native to the Western Hemisphere.[1] It can be found growing on sandstone outcrops (inselbergs) of the Fouta Djallon highlands in Middle Guinea.[2]
Its specific epithet feliciana commemorates Henri Jacques-Félix (1907–2008), the French botanist who first collected it. In 1937, he discovered the plants growing on the steep rocks of Mount Gangan, near Kindia in the former French Guinea.[3][4]
The speciation occurred around 10 million years ago, therefore its distribution cannot be due to continental drift,[5] the Americas having separated from Africa much earlier. The species probably originates from seeds dispersed by migrating birds.[6]
It has bright orange-red, scentless flowers with abundant nectar that are typical of other bromeliads having birds as pollinators, although no actual sighting of birds pollinating the species has been recorded yet.[5]
References
- 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ↑ Porembski, Stefan; Barthlott, Wilhelm (2000). Inselbergs: Biotic Diversity of Isolated Rock Outcrops in Tropical and Temperate Regions. Springer. p. 205. ISBN 978-3-540-67269-2.
- ↑ Techniques agricoles et productions tropicales (in French) 4. G.-P. Maisonneuve & Larose. 1965. p. 21.
- ↑ Jacques-Félix, Henri. "The Discovery of a Bromeliad in Africa". Selbyana 21 (1/2): 118–124.
- 1 2 Givnish, Thomas J.; Millam, Kendra C.; Berry, Paul E.; Sytsma, Kenneth J. (2007). "Phylogeny, Adaptive Radiation, and Historical Biogeography of Bromeliaceae Inferred from ndhF Sequence Data" (PDF). Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany 23 (1): 3–26. doi:10.5642/aliso.20072301.04.
- ↑ Porembski, Stefan; Barthlott, Wilhelm (1999). "Pitcairnia feliciana, the only indigenous African bromeliad". Harvard Papers in Botany 5: 175–184.