Bromeliaceae

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"Bromeliad" redirects here. The Bromeliad is also a trilogy of children's books by Terry Pratchett.

Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) is a large family of flowering plants native to the tropical and warm temperate New World. The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides, and ground plants, such as the Pineapple Ananas comosus. Many bromeliads are able to store water in a "tank" formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphytic Tillandsia species which gather water only from leaf structures called trichomes, and even a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.

The largest bromeliad is Puya raimondii, which reaches 3-4 m tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 9-10 m tall, and the smallest is probably Spanish moss.

Genera

• Abromeitiella Mez
• Acanthostachys Klotzsch
• Aechmea Ruiz & Pav.
• Ananas Mill. - Includes the pineapple.
• Andrea Mez
• Androlepis Brongn ex Houllet
• Araeococcus Brongn
• Ayensua L.B.Sm.
• Billbergia Thunb.
• Brewcaria L.B.Sm., Steyerm. & H.Rob
• Brocchinia Schult.f.
• Bromelia L.
• Canistrum E.Morren
• Catopsis Griseb.
• Connellia N.E.Br.
• Cottendorfia Schult.f.
• Cryptanthus Otto & A.Dietr.
• Deuterocohnia Mez

Tillandsia usneoides growing as an epiphyte