Green Bromeliad

FEATURED PHOTO: Your Best Work FAA group - 0722/2013... more

by Sandra Pena de Ortiz

Title

Green Bromeliad

Artist

Sandra Pena de Ortiz

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

FEATURED PHOTO: Your Best Work FAA group - 0722/2013

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This is one of the beautiful bromeliads that are part of my mother in law's garden, here in Puerto Rico. I found its yellow green color so attractive. It really makes it stand out from the rest. You might be surprised to learn that bromeliads are related to the pineapple family. They have thick, waxy leaves that form a bowl shape in the center for catching rainwater. As you can see, the blue hues on the leaves of the green bromeliad in the photo, give up the fact that I shot the photograph on a rainy day. Surprisingly, some bromeliads can hold several gallons of water and are themselves miniature ecosystems providing habitats and refuge for a variety of creatures, including snails, mosquito larvae, and the amazing Puerto Rican coqui frog. Once the living organisms die, they decompose, and furnish the plant with nutrients. The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants composed of approximately 3,170 species mainly native to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa. The foliage of bromeliads takes different shapes, from needle-thin to broad and flat, symmetrical to irregular, spiky to soft. The foliage, usually grows in a rosette configuration, particularly resembling a rose. Such rosette shaped foliage of bromeliads is the most widely patterned and colored of any plant in the world. Leaf colors range from maroon, shades of green and pink, to gold. Some varieties may have leaves with red, purple, yellow, white and cream variations of color. Sometimes bromeliads are spotted with different colors, while others have different colors on the tops and bottoms of the leaves. There is also great variation in the sizes. Some flower spikes may be as tall as 10 meters, while others only measure 2-3 mm across. Upright stalks, such as the one in the photograph, may be branched or simple.

Uploaded

July 8th, 2013