Billbergia

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. The ovary are under constant. A large part of the species blooms at night. The flower formula is: ${\displaystyle \star }$ bis ${\displaystyle \downarrow \;K_{3}\;C_{(3)}\;A_{3+3}\;G_{\overline {(3)}}}$

The fruits are multi-seeded berries are 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.

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)
		Billbergia alfonsi-joannis Reitz	from Espírito Santo to Santa Catarina
		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
		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
		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 Liebmann	Mexico and Central America from Sinaloa to Nicaragua
		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 (G.Lodd.) Lindl.	Brazil
		Billbergia bradeana L.B.Sm.	Espírito Santo
		Billbergia buchholtzii Mez	Brazil, but probably extinct
		Billbergia castelensis E.Pereira	Espírito Santo
		Billbergia chlorantha L.B.Sm.	Espírito Santo
		Billbergia × claudioi Leme - Brazil
		Billbergia distachya (Vell.) Mez	southern Brazil
		Billbergia domingosmartinsis E.Gross	Espírito Santo
		Billbergia elegans Martius ex Schultes f.	Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais
		Billbergia euphemiae E.Morren	southeastern Brazil
		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 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 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 H.Wendland ex Regel	Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
		Billbergia pohliana Mez	Minas Gerais
		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
		Billbergia vittata Brongn.	eastern Brazil

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]

• Media related to Billbergia at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Billbergia at Wikispecies

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